Smith reluctant to commit to a sequel where, judging by the title, someone else tries to prove they're just as legendary as him...

When asked about the in-development sequel I Am Legend 2, which he was reported to be a producer on, Will Smith recently clarified:

“Producers are working on it. I’m not actually working on it. If it’s great, I’m into it.”

So they’d better come up with a take that’s legend…wait for it…dary.

Come to think of it: Barney Stinson fighting vampires in a post-apocalyptic future? Sold. They should cast Neil Patrick Harris immediately. And Will Smith can be in it too.

And I Am Legend...Wait For It...Dary could include a song which goes "The nightmare's real / Doctor Le-gend-wait for it-dary is here / To make vampires quake in fear / So hail to the awesome..." You know, for the Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog fans who are still waiting on tenterhooks for Doctor Horrible 2. That is, basically all of them. What's a tenterhook?

Also, they should cast Nathan Fillion, so that Barney Stinson and Captain Hammer can have a (self-proclaimed) awesomeness contest.

If filming interferes with Neil Patrick Harris' How I Met Your Mother schedule, they can always explain it by having Barney rushing in every now and again and explaining his absence by stories of fighting vampires, which the others will no doubt treat with their usual scepticism.

Anyway, with that HIMYM-like diversion aside, back to the I Am Legend 2 news:

“When asked if he’d reconsider, Smith confessed: “Probably not.””

So if they can’t convince him to join the sequel, then it’ll be a tough sell. A sequel to a film that got mixed reactions from audiences, without the original star. But with vampires!

(Okay, I Am Legend was a box office hit, but that was probably largely due to Will Smith’s star presence.)

Of course, they could always get Jet Li to star and make it a sequel to The Legend and The Legend 2 (or Fist of Legend, for that matter).

I Am Legend (2007) wasn’t particularly popular with fans of Richard Matheson’s novel of the same name, largely because of changes to the source material.

Personally, being unfamiliar with the book, I thought it worked reasonably well though not perfectly, mixing elements of blockbuster and less mainstream sensibilities. And Will Smith put in a great performance as Robert Neville, in a more psychological role than audiences are used to seeing him in.

Though Men in Black 3 is still showing, and there are follow-ups to several of his movies in various stages of development, Will Smith also said:

“I don’t want to be the sequel guy. I figure I’ve about six or seven years left where I can run and jump a little bit…”

Sequel Guy. That should totally be a superhero. Played by someone like Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock (The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King (which is technically a spin-off prequel), Fast Five, Fast Six, GI Joe 2, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island), or Vin Diesel (The Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast Six, The Return of Xander Cage). Both of them have not only been in lots of sequels (and probably will be in lots more), but also have the right kind of cheesy awesomeness that would be necessary for Sequel Guy. Every movie he made would be bigger and better than the last! But less popular with critics.

Will Smith’s next film will be M. Night Shyamalan’s sci-fi epic After Earth, which sadly isn’t a sequel to the underrated Titan AE (short for Titan After Earth).

Collider (link contains I Am Legend spoilers)

See also:

Trailer for post-apocalyptic Simpsons musical 'Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play'

Dream casting: The Stand movie

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