When Ridley Scott took on directing I Am Legend for Warner Brothers in 1997, he was initially working from a Mark Protosevich screenplay (which itself was based on the Corrington's screenplay to The Omega Man). Steve Johnson's effects company had been hired to develop the look of Protosevich's Hemocytes — the creatures that replaced the vampires in Matheson's novel. On his team was comic artist Kerry Gammill.
When Johnson was selling off assets from his XFX company on eBay, I was able to acquire an original Kerry Gammill Hemocyte sketch. I also received a production illustration which appears to be colored and inked from this original drawing. Though not obvious from these illustrations, the Hemocytes were envisioned to be almost translucent, allowing you to see under their skin. Gammill's use of extra teeth did make it into the next stage of the design for the Hemocytes, as evidenced in these make-up tests that Johnson uploaded to YouTube. (I later acquired an original VHS copy of test footage on eBay.)
While I like Gammill's design, and am glad to have pre-production material from the unmade film in the archive, I can't help but believe it's a mistake for the filmmakers to change the vampires in Matheson's story from the familiar (his neighbors and family members) to completely unrecognizable creatures.
That said, these designs are far superior to the CGI 'Darkseekers' that were ultimately used in the Francis Lawrence film. While it can't be confirmed, I believe the makers of the 2007 film turned to these 1970s rubber jigglers for 'Darkseeker' reference...
Be sure to check back next week for more from the I Am Legend Archive!
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