BlackFilm.com reports that "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp will join Will Smith in I Am Legend, for director Francis Lawrence (Constantine):

Depp may play the role of Ben Cortman, the head vampire and the protagonist's (Smith) main enemy.

In Richard Matheson's book, Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

Filming is said to start in September.

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I Am Legend has been made into a movie twice before, in The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, and The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. The latter is a wonderful little gem, surprisingly atmospheric and well-written, even though it's a bit dated and melodramatic.

Matheson's novel is arguably part of the inspiration for the "zombie apocalypse" genre, although the zombies are Matheson's vampires with taken to their logical extreme; since they're dead, they're slow and stupid. And since they eat people, things get REALLY bloddy.

Richard Matheson and George Romero are the two people that Stephen King dedicated his recent novel Cell to.

Looks like I'm going to have to buy I Am Legend sometime soon and read it just to see what all the fuss is about.

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It's not a bad novel, but he's not John Steinbeck either. Matheson wrote a lot of cool stuff though.

Hmm! I didn't realize this until now, but Matheson is still alive, albeit he's 81 years old. For some reason I just assumed he was no longer with us, possibly because of how long ago most of his big stuff was published. He also wrote the novel What Dreams May Come and the script for Duel, which was based on his short story.

Other notable works:

• The Incredible Shrinking Man
• Stir of Echoes
• Hell House

Matheson was also a writer for television, having written for Kolchak - The Night Stalker and The Twilight Zone.

Those are some pretty impressive writing credentials. I've heard that the movie adaptation of Stir of Echoes (with Kevin Bacon)was pretty good, it just sort of got lost in the Hollywood shuffle.

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Warner Brothers has announced November 21st, 2007 as the release date for I Am Legend.

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would definitely be great to see depp hams it up as the chief vampire. certainly looking forward to this. i hope they'll round up the cast with two hotties - one for smith and one for depp. how about kerry washington & rachel weisz?? any other picks? lol

Personally, I would just as soon see no love interests in the movie. From what I've read about it, it sounds as though the book focuses on the character killing vampires and dealing with life in a this hellish new world. Of course, I'm sure Hollywood won't be able to resist throwing in a woman (even if there's no actual romance). If they cast a white actress, you can probably bet that she and Smith will have a platonic relationship (see I, Robot and The Pelican Brief.

If they decide to cast a woman of ethnicity, give me Kelly Hu or Gabrielle Union.

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How about Kate Beckinsale as the chief female vampire opposite Depp? If this happens (which I know won't), I'll be jumping up and down with utmost JOY!!