Details You Probably Didn’t Notice In “I am Legend”

First before the details here is a little recap about the movie.

“I am Legend ” is a 2007 movie about a scientist named Robert Neville (Will Smith) who is trapped in a New York post-apocalyptic wasteland that has been taken over by a man-made disease that converts mammals into mindless killing monsters called Darkseekers. Contrary to popular belief this movie’s antagonists are not zombies but a sort of vampires. This is demonstrated in one of the later scenes where Robert tries trapping one of the infected by using his own blood. Robert wanders the streets of New York accompanied by only his dog named Sam, he struggles in life while trying to cope with his loneliness and trying to contact other survivors, while also trying to find a cure using his own immune blood. 

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, here are some details you may have missed.

1. TV Announcements

In the first scene we can see that while they are interviewing the scientist that creates the virus in the bottom of the screen we see some announcements. One is about Shaquille O’Neal’s  retirement date being 2010 which wasn’t far off from the actual retirement date which was actually on June 1, 2011. And then we see the announcement about the Patriots beating the Giants twice in a season, Which they did end up playing twice in 2008 but the Patriots won the first one and the  Giants beat them in the next.

2. Batman V Superman

We later see Robert driving around New York and while he is driving we see a poster for a Batman v Superman movie which wouldn’t come out until 2016. German director Wolfgang Petersen was originally scheduled to film the movie in 2003 But the movie was delayed and eventually canceled, after disagreements about creating separate franchises for both superheroes. Warner Bros. would eventually release Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, which was a separate creative effort.

3. The lantern

While Robert is entering the disk we can see a green lantern poster wich Warner Bros later released a movie in 2011

4. Power of Vinegar

When Robert was entering his House he splash behind him with vinegar which is used to cover up the scent. So the Darkseekers can’t track him.

5. A mannequin?

In the scene where he encounters the mannequin, if you really pay attention you can see the mannequin’s head move slightly. This represents Robert’s state of mind which can’t recognise whether something is real or not.

6. Daughter

Robert’s daughter in the movie is play by Will Smith’s real daughter, Willow Smith

7. ”The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”

When Robert starts to bond with Anna he sings the same lyrics from “I Shot The Sheriff” a song by Bob Marley, which Will Smith also sings in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.

8. Shrek

In the scene where he is starting to get to know Anna and her son we can hear some scenes from the movie Shrek which mirrors Robert’s current state, for example Donkey is impressed by Shrek taking out some of the king’s guards, just as Anna took out Darkseekers to save Neville. Then Donkey says, “I don’t have any friends, and I’m not going out there by myself,” which mirrors Neville’s attitude following Sam’s death.

9. Society Breakdown

When Robert is filling up his gas tank we can see in the background that the gas prices skyrocketed. This tells us that society had a total breakdown after the virus started to spread. Also from this we know that there could have been riots and more stuff before the island was closed.

10. Ineffective Protection 

We can see that while Robert is driving around, many of the buildings are covered with plastic. This coil has been used to prevent infection from airborne disease. Which from what we know was really ineffective.

11. Music?

If you really pay attention there is actually no music in the movie, this is used to represent how lonely the place is and how Robert feels. The only times we actually hear sound or music is when the characters in the movie make a sound. The only time we hear music is when Robert finds two cradles and it reminds him of his daughter.

Bonus-Butterfly

In most of the important scenes we can see a butterfly, for example in the first scene where he is driving around we see a poster with a butterfly, then in both flashbacks his daughter makes a butterfly, then while Robert is picking corn we see a butterfly fly around Sam, Later on in the final scene we see the Darkseeker make a crack in the glass in form of a butterfly and then we see another butterfly on Anna’s neck. The butterfly at first is seen by Robert as nothing else but at the final moments he sees it as a sign of god that “this is the path that he should take” and decides to do something to save Anna, her son.

Well that was all of the facts I could find. Hope you like it and thank you for reading.