Francis Lawrence is to direct the adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel
I Am Legend, according to Variety.
WB has entrusted Lawrence with one of the more ambitious films in its repertoire. But the studio has championed the director since he jumped from being a video helmer to directing the Keanu Reeves movie
Constantine.
In "Legend," he takes on a big sci-fi project that has been at the studio for nearly a decade. At one time, it had Ridley Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached, and another incarnation had Michael Bay and Will Smith set.
Set in Los Angeles after a biological war, the pic centers on the sole healthy survivor, a man who finds himself in a battle against nocturnal mutants. Pic will undergo a rewrite under the supervision of Lawrence and the producers, who eye a 2006 start date.