BlackTree TV

The Reel Thing: I Am Legend

"I Am Legend" New York Film Premier

From the film: Will Smith and Willow Smith, Alice Braga, director Francis Lawrence and Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman will be joined by celebrity guests to be announced shortly.

Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague—The Infected—lurk in the shadows...watching Neville's every move...waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered...and quickly running out of time.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Weed Road/Overbrook Entertainment Production, "I Am Legend," starring two-time Oscar® nominee Will Smith ("The Pursuit of Happyness," "Ali"), Alice Braga and Dash Mihok. The film is directed by Francis Lawrence. The screenplay is by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel by Richard Matheson. Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter, David Heyman and Neal Moritz are the producers, with Michael Tadross, Erwin Stoff, Dana Goldberg and Bruce Berman serving as executive producers, and Tracy Torme co-producing. The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Andrew Lesnie, production designer Naomi Shohan, editor Wayne Wahrman, costume designer Michael Kaplan, and composer James Newton Howard. "I Am Legend" will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

A BlackTree Media Production

Producer: William Grady
Producer: DJ Sweets
Personality: Jeanette Eng

Monday Night Conversation with Will Smith

Monday Night Conversation is our candid conversation with stars of the big and small screen, athletes, entertainers, politicians and other icons. In this episode, BlackTree TV Executive Producer, Jamaal Finkley, fills in for host Ms. Brooke Christopher and sits down with the Big Willie himself to ask him about his new movie, family, and saving the world. Stay tuned for more interviews, including the New York premier of the movie 'I Am Legend'.

Produced by Jamaal Finkley
Personality: Jamaal Finkley
A BlackTree Media Production

Will Smith Biography

Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is a Golden Globe and a two time Academy Award-nominated American actor, and a multiple Grammy Award-winning hip hop artist. He is one of a small group of people who have enjoyed success in three major entertainment media in the United States. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet.

Smith's most notable television role was that of William "Will" Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In his film work, his notable roles include Agent J in Men in Black and Men in Black II, Muhammad Ali in Ali, as well as his role in the blockbuster Independence Day and more recently as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness with his son Jaden Smith. Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime." They gained critical acclaim for winning the first ever Grammy in the Rap category (1988). He had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Gulf War song by a celebrity group. Smith was nearing bankruptcy when in 1990, the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. The show was successful and launched his acting career.

Although he made a notable dramatic film debut in Six Degrees of Separation while still appearing in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith's film career took off with his role in the buddy cop action film Bad Boys (1995) along with co-star Martin Lawrence. Will Smith at 45th Emmy Awards in 1993 Will Smith at 45th Emmy Awards in 1993 After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended in 1996, Smith began a successful solo music career while simultaneously starring in a series of films. The first two films were hugely successful summer blockbusters: Independence Day (1996), in which he played a fearless and confident fighter pilot, and Men in Black (1997), where he played the comic and confident Agent J against Tommy Lee Jones's deadpan Agent K. Smith's acting in Men in Black won critical praise. He originally rejected the lead role in Men in Black, but wife Jada Pinkett Smith coaxed him into acceptance. The two films established Smith's commercial reputation as a bankable star whose appeal across age, race, and gender lines could "open" a film at the box office. Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West. After the failure of Wild Wild West and watching Keanu Reeves' performance, he suggests that he would not have been the appropriate actor for the role at the time, but still considers passing on The Matrix as a big mistake. He then gained lead roles in several box office successes including Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, Hitch, and I, Robot.

Smith is one of only two hip-hop artists to receive an Oscar nomination in an acting category (Best Actor, Ali, 2001), for his portrayal of the boxer Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay, in the biopic. He was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his role in another true-life movie, The Pursuit of Happyness where he played Chris Gardner in his rags to riches story. Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith created the UPN (later CW) sitcom All of Us, which was loosely based on their lives. The show debuted on UPN in September 2003 and aired there for three seasons before moving to The CW in October 2006 for one more season. The CW cancelled All of Us in May 2007. Smith appeared as himself in Jersey Girl delivering the Silent Bob speech that appears in nearly all Kevin Smith movies. The lead character's situation is due to the claim, "Will Smith is just a rapper".

Alice Braga Interview

BlackTree TV Producer Jamaal Finkley sits down with Alice Braga and discusses her new movie, I AM LEGEND. The discussion talks about filming in America as opposed to Brazil, and who would she like to work with in the future.

Produced by Jamaal Finkley
Personality: Jamaal Finkley
A BlackTree Media Production

Brief Biography

Alice Braga (born April 15, 1983 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian actress. She has appeared in several films, most notably as Angélica in 2002's highly acclaimed City of God. Sônia Braga is her maternal aunt.

Alice Braga (Anna) has been receiving critical acclaim and international recognition since her stirring performance in director Fernando Meirelles' Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated drama "City of God." The Brazillian-born Braga has become a fixture of her native country's cinema, with credits including "Solo Dios Sabe" ("God Only Knows"), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; the offbeat comedy "Cheiro do Ralo, O" ("Drained"); and the love triangle drama "Cidade Baixa" ("Lower City").

Braga more recently captured Hollywood's attention with her performance in writer/director Eric Eason's "Journey to the End of the Night," opposite Brendan Fraser and Catalina Sandino Moreno.

She also has a host of promising projects on the horizon. In Wayne Kramer's upcoming "Crossing Over," Braga joins Harrison Ford and Sean Penn in a story of immigrants' efforts to achieve U.S. citizenship. In 2008, she will be seen in David Mamet's "Redbelt," opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen and Emily Mortimer, and in "Blindness," based on Jose Saramago's Nobel Prize-winning novel about a town mysteriously struck by blindness. The film, which reunites Braga with director Fernando Meirelles, also stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Braga is currently filming "Repossession Mambo," starring opposite Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. The science fiction thriller, based on Eric Garcia's novel, is slated for release in 2009.

Filmography

Blindness (TBA)
Redbelt (2008) - Sondra Terry
I Am Legend (2007) - Anna
Cheiro do Ralo, O (2006) - Garçonete Dois
Journey to the End of the Night (2006) - Monique
Lower City (Cidade Baixa) (2005) - Karinna
Only God Knows (2005) - Dolores
City of God (2002) - Angélica
Trampolim (1998) - Cláudia

Francis Lewis Interview

Brief Biography

Francis Lawrence (Director) made his feature diretorial debut in 2005 with the visually stylish thriller "Constantine," starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Sha LaBeaouf and Djimon Hounsou.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Lawerence wrote screenplays, shot super 8 movies and took a high school film class, which helped him decide to pursue a filmmaking career. As a Loyola Marymount University film student, he worked on his own productions throughout college and, upon graduating, began to make music videos for a friend who owned a small record label.

Lawrence has since helmed videos for some of the biggest superstars in music, winning nearly every possible award in the process. The young director was recognized in 2003 for his innovative work on Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" by the Music Video Production Association (MVPA), receiving the awards for Best Pop and Best Male Video. He has been recognized several times by the MTV Video Music Awards and received the Director of the Year Award in 2002 from the MVPA. He also won a Latin Grammy in 2002 for popular South American songstress Shakira's video "Suerte."

The names of the artists with whom Lawrence has worked reads like a who's who of the contemporary music canon, also including Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Destiny's Child, Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Huston, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Alanis Morissette, Black Eyed Peas, and many others. One of his most high-profile project was Will Smith's "Black Suits Coming" video for the movie "Men in Black II." The experience not only presented him with a welcome challenge, but also provided solid training ground for his smooth segue from videos to feature films.

In addition, Lawrence has made his mark in the world of commercials, having created musically charged and visually stunning campaigns for major corporate names, including Gap and Coca-Cola.

Produced by Jamaal Finkley
Personality: Jamaal Finkley
A BlackTree Media Production

I AM LEGEND

I Am Legend is an upcoming 2007 American post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the fourth film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend, following The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971) and the straight to video I Am Omega (2007). Smith plays Robert Neville, possibly Earth's only survivor of a man-made virus. He works to create a cure but is stalked by nocturnal mutant survivors of the plague.

Warner Bros. Pictures began developing I Am Legend in 1994, and various actors and directors were attached to the project, though it did not enter production due to budgetary concerns. I Am Legend entered production in 2006 in New York City, filming mainly on location in the city including a $5 million scene at the Brooklyn Bridge, the most expensive scene filmed in the city to date. For the film, Warner Bros. launched a tie-in comic and an online multiplayer game on Second Life as part of its marketing campaign. I Am Legend is scheduled to be released December 14, 2007.

A man-made virus wipes out the population of New York City in 2009, leaving virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith) the last human survivor in the city and possibly the world. Neville lives alone for three years, attempting to contact and find other possible survivors. He is watched by nocturnal mutant victims of the plague. Neville was the indirect cause of the fall of man: his government-funded research helped spread the virus, and he now works to redeem himself for this folly. Naturally immune, Neville realizes that two percent of the human race must also be immune. Nevertheless, many of them were killed by the infected, who became cannibalistic. Neville finds himself outnumbered by the infected and running out of time.

Will Smith stars as Robert Neville, a role which the actor found to be his toughest challenge since portraying Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001). In playing the last uninfected human in Manhattan, Smith is on his own with only a dog for company during the first half of the film. He said that "when you're on your own, it is kind of hard to find conflict." The film's dark tone and exploration of whether Neville has gone insane during his isolation meant Smith had to restrain himself from falling into a humorous routine during takes.

Smith said he took on I Am Legend because he felt it could be like "Gladiator [or] Forrest Gump — these are movies with wonderful, audience-pleasing elements but also uncompromised artistic value. [This] always felt like it had those possibilities to me." He compared Neville to Job, who lost his children, livelihood and health. Like the Book of Job, I Am Legend studies whether "can he find a reason to continue? Can he find the hope or desire to excel and advance in life? Or does the death of everything around him create imminent death for himself?" He also cited an influence in Tom Hanks' performance in Cast Away (2000).

Abbey, a three-year-old German Shepherd, played Neville's dog. Another dog was used for scenes where Neville plays fetch with his companion, as Abbey refused to perform these scenes. The rest of the supporting cast consists of Salli Richardson as Ginny, Robert's wife, and Alice Braga as a character named Anna. Willow Smith, Will Smith's daughter, makes her film debut as Marley, Neville's daughter.