Will Smith starred as a lone survivor in the post-apocalyptic movie ‘I Am Legend’ alongside a trained dog named Abbey. After the filming ended, Smith wanted to adopt Abbey, even though she already belonged to another family.
The actor explained why he cared so much about his canine co-star in a recent chat with Hot Ones:
“Man, Abbey, it was like Abbey spoke English. You could say, ‘Hey, Abbey, did you see where I left my phone?’ And she goes, [barks and points to the phone]. She literally could understand you. It was the weirdest thing.”
Smith praised the dog for her performance in the film, especially her death scene:
“It was really amazing to watch the scene where she bites, bites, bites, where we have to do the scene where I choke her out, and she lays out. Abbey’s doing that. He trained Abbey to go limp, and lay there. And I’m like, ‘How do you train a dog to go limp?’ And she would bite, bite, bite, bite, bite. And he would say, ‘Abbey, die!’ And she would go, [plays dead]. I laid her down, and it was like working with a brilliant actress.”
He paid tribute to Abbey by posting her photo with the caption ‘the goodness girl’ on National Pet Day seven years after the film’s release.
A Sequel Is On The Way
Will Smith is currently working on a sequel to ‘I Am Legend’ with Michael B. Jordan. The production is going well, according to his May interview with Entertainment Tonight:
“We had a couple of weeks together about a month ago. I think it’s looking good. [We have some] really solid ideas… I think we’re going to make it on screen together. That dude is the truth, so I would love to do that.”
Writer Akiva Goldsman is coming back to pen the script. He’s planning to follow the first film’s alternate ending where Smith’s character survives in the sequel. His previous words to Deadline read:
“This will start a few decades later than the first. We trace back to the original [Richard] Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film. What Matheson was talking about was that man’s time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end. That’s a really interesting thing we’re going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text.”
The ‘I Am Legend’ actor is currently back on the big screen as part of ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die.’
