The film I Am Legend had an ending that did not sit well with a lot of fans, as it was changed from the source material (and let’s be real, the whole self-sacrifice thing was unnecessary). Now, 11 years later, the man who directed that film, Francis Lawrence, has revealed what changes he would make to the film. The director recently spoke with Screen Rant and spoke about the critiques of the film.

“Looking back at it now, I think that we could have just done basically the story of the novella straight up and made the same amount of money in terms of ticket sales because people went I think for the last man on earth. They would have accepted the nihilistic ending, they would have accepted vampires instead of people with infections. We could have literally made the book, which I would have been much happier with, but you know when you’re spending that much money you’re panicking that you’re making this weird little kind of art film about a guy alone with a dog in New York and you’re trying to you know sort of create that spectacle.”

For the most part, fans, especially book readers want a film to stick as closely to its source as possible. A film’s ending can make or break it, as Lawrence knows first hand.

“I agree it’s the better ending. I mean, it’s the more philosophical version of the end, but in terms of story math we’re doing everything you’re not supposed to do, right? The hero doesn’t find the cure, right? They drive off into the unknown and the creatures you’ve been saying are the bad ones the whole time you learn actually have humanity and aren’t the bad ones – the hero’s the bad one. And so you’ve basically turned everything on its head. We tested it twice and it got wildly rejected, wildly rejected, which is why we came out with the other one.”

I enjoyed the film, as I was ignorant to the book’s ending. Having learned the original ending sometime after, I agree with the gripes of many fans and would have preferred the original ending.

Which ending do you prefer? Let us know in the comments down below!

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Source: ScreenRant

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