Now that the script has been dumbed down enough for Hollywood’s palate, long in gestation post-apocalyptic project I Am Legend is about to start filming. Production Weekly reports that a shooting schedule has been set for the Will Smith starring vehicle, and apparently it’s going to be a biggie. Smith is going to have to set aside a full six months for filming. Shooting starts in a few weeks on September 23rd, and will continue until March 31st.

The movie was once one of my most eagerly anticipated Hollywood projects. The script was freaking brilliant, an adaptation of the 1954 Richard Matheson novel of the same name. I Am Legend told the story of the last man on a blasted Earth. A lone survivor in a landscape of diseased humans transformed into intelligent, blood-thirsty, violent mutants; a beautiful study in despair, loneliness, and then unexpected hope.

The early version of the script I read has since been rewritten by Akiva Goldsman (as we reported here), to remove everything that made it challenging… and also good. The movie now has Big Willie style, and so after years and years of stalled production it’s now ready to move ahead. Look for it in theaters next year on November 27th.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get over this one.