Earlier this year, I Am Legend, the latest Will Smith extravaganza took over the Brooklyn Bridge. Warner Bros. spent around $5,000,000 for a 6 night shoot in New York, after getting approval from 14 government agencies, with hundreds of extras, including 160 members of the National Guard in full combat gear.
The plot: "Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. Mutant victims of the plague—The Infected—lurk in the shadows…watching Neville’s every move…waiting for him to make a fatal mistake."
And the trailer is now out, attached to the release of Ocean's 13. See the Brooklyn Bridge blow up in the clip below. Other locations in New York you can expect to see in the movie: Marcy Avenue Armory in Williamsburg, Tribeca, the Intrepid, the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, and St. Paul's Cathedral. Here's a list of other movies that have filmed on the Brooklyn Bridge.
This isn't the first time we'll see parts of New York destroyed on celluloid, some others include: Independence Day, Godzilla, Armageddon, Deep Impact and The Day After Tomorrow.
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Personally, I kind of like seeing New York destroyed on film. I think it makes you appreciate the city a bit more to realize how expendable it really is. However, I can understand how some people might disagree. Like, I showed this trailer to my parents and my mom got scared, she said "you're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air." I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said "fresh" and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare but I thought now forget it, yo homes to bel-air!
guest
sorry, i had to stop laughing from fits of laughter after reading "(Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist"
schadenfreude mensch
Yea, I thought it sounded awfully like Omega Man with Mr. Charlton "from my cold, dead hands" Heston.
danergy
fwiw, I Am Legend was the book that was the original inspiration for Night of the Living Dead, Omega Man etc etc.
jonas
while I hate to say that "i love seeing nyc get destroyed" - i agree that it's really cool. AI had a good example.
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