I am Legend

INT. SUBWAY TUNNEL - DAY

A dank, dark, creepy place. No more electricity to feed the lights or tracks. Neville paces himself behind the dog, flashlight illuminating old cigarette ads, a 49ERS billboard, a pile of cat and rat skeletons, the rails, more GRAFFITI.

Which we now see more clearly. This isn't the creation of homeboy gangbangers. it is fierce and savage in its beauty. Wild symbols, patterns, and colors. Majestic. Tribal. Neville has seen it many times before and doesn't like it. It spells trouble. He stops and attaches another electronic device to an overhead pipe.

The dog stops and utters a soft bark in the direction of a wrecked SUBWAY CAR spilled on the tracks ahead. Neville shuts off the flashlight and dons the night-vision goggles. He raises his finger to his lips and the dog knows to proceed quietly. Neville attaches the final electronic device to the door leading to the car and silently enters.

INT. SUBWAY CAR - DAY

THROUGH THE GREENISH TINT OF THE GOGGLES, we scan the interior. Ripped seats, trash, and in one corner, a HUMAN FORM. An EMACIATED CORPSE. Stripped naked, every ounce of blood drained. A festering bullet wound in the chest, the skin punctured by teeth marks. on its chest, an elaborate TRIBAL DESIGN, much like the graffiti, somehow raised from the skin, similar to a cattle brand.

Neville checks out the opposite end. Sleeping there are TWO FORMS. Breathing. He removes the goggles and motions for the dog to move back. He readies his weapon with one hand, and reaches back with the other, igniting...

THE HALOGEN LAMP. Instantly, BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT floods the compartment. The two figures stir awake and SCREECH.

NEVILLE

DON'T MOVE.

But they do not listen. Instead, they REACH into their bedding, pull out TWO HANDGUNS and FIRE.

Not what Neville expected. As bullets whiz past, he unleashes the machine gun, firing a spray across the car. One of the sleepers' bullets takes out the halogen. It shatters, burning Neville's cheek. More gunfire. Is he hit?

Neville falls back. A firefight in close quarters is not what he wants. He maneuvers back into the tunnel. Takes cover behind a pile of rubble and finds the dog already there.

NEVILLE

Never believe them, Robert, never.

BLAM! BLAM,! Bullets explode in the wall near his head. He sneaks a peek and sees the two sleepers firing at him from inside the train. Neville reaches into his belt and pulls out the customized REMOTE. He presses one of the buttons and KABLAM! The car is rocked with a small EXPLOSION. The door is torn from its mooring and one of the sleepers is RIPPED APART- The wounded sleeper HOWLS with pain and falls to the

tunnel floor, barely able to keep his body from splitting in half. Amazingly, he's still alive.

BLAM! The other one's still shooting. Neville takes cover. The second sleeper exits the car and tends to its wounded comrade. Both are the same type of creature as the sniper, but this one, the living one, is FEMALE. Her dying partner, a MALE, is finished. She caresses his face, then buries her mouth in an open wound, infusing herself. Dark blood covers her chin and chest, but as she walks, the liquid crawls across her skin into her mouth. It seems to give mass and power to her body and rich color to her translucent skin.

She raises her gun. Neville ducks just as she FIRES. BEEP BEEP BEEP. His electronic stopwatch sounds an ALARM. He switches it off and looks at the sunlight pouring into the tunnel. Its quality slowly starting to shift.

MOVEMENT. Both Neville and the female react to SOUNDS behind them, past the wrecked subway car. Neville knows what's coming. Far in the distance, we see MORE FORMS. What could be an army. He and the dog RACE to the crumbled wall of the department store. The female SCREECHES and gives chase. She's very fast, like a panther. Neville glances up, runs, presses the REMOTE...

The second DEVICE EXPLODES, collapsing the roof of the tunnel. Pipes, concrete, dirt--it all cascades down. A SHAFT OF LIGHT be in from the street above, stopping the female dead in her tracks. The light separates her from Neville and she does not like it. Frustrated, she snarls...

INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - SUB BASEMENT - DAY

Neville helps the dog through the hole and heads for the

escalator. Presses the REMOTE. The third device EXPLODES,

sealing shut the connection from the store to the tunnel.

EXT. DEPARTMENT STORE - DAY

Neville and the dog hurriedly enter the Land Rover, haphazardly tossing supplies and weapons into the rear. Neville starts the vehicle and checks the sky. Must be about an hour before sunset.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - DAY

The Land Rover zips down California Street and we PULL BACK, FAR BACK, revealing the scope and breadth of the city.

San Francisco has been raped, mutilated, and murdered. Buildings burned, streets littered with rusting cars, trees and grass dry, dead. No bombs were dropped--too , y of the structures are intact--instead, it feels as though something sinister and insidious rotted the place from the inside out.

Most startling is the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. Barricades, barbed wire, EMPTY NATIONAL GUARD TANKS--all scattered about like a child's toys. it looks like a war zone. The bridge itself is charred and torn, unstable, swaying in the wind.

EXT. CHINATOWN - DAY

This area too -has been ravaged. WIND kicks up LEAFLETS. The

Land Rover speeds through, kicking up the old papers. CLOSE

ON A LEAFLET as it sails to the ground. It reads:

YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I AM A SURVIVOR JUST LIKE YOU. I WILL HELP. YOU CAN TRUST ME. THERE IS HOPE.

MY NAME IS ROBERT.

MEET ME IN GOLDEN GATE PARK. PORTALS OF THE PAST. 12 NOON.

MIDDAY. EVERY DAY. WHEN THE SUN IS HIGHEST IN THE SKY.

PLEASE.

The leaflet is yellowed and dirty. These things have been floating around for a long time.

EXT. HILL DISTRICT- DAY

Land that once held the beautiful homes of Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill now looks like terrain in Bosnia. or the surface of the moon. Atop one of the hills still stands one edifice--Neville's house. The Land Rover climbs.

INT. LAND ROVER - DAY

Neville presses a remote garage door opener.

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - DAY

The vehicle slows outside a massive GATE fashioned out of wrought iron, corrugated steel, and barbed wire. It WHEELS open, allows entry, then CLANGS shut once the Rover's inside.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL THE REST OF THE HOUSE

A turn-of-the-century house. The kind you can't find in other cities. From a distance, it almost locks "normal." But normal it is not. Every window and door has been bricked and cemented shut. Small SLITS have been cut into the walls at strategic points to provide some vantage. These portals are covered with chicken wire and are outlined by sharp NAILS pointing outward at jagged angles.

The exterior walls are covered with a hodgepodge of metal plating--steel sheets, corrugated iron. The gables bounded by coils of barbed wire. High-intensity LAMPS (now shut off) and SECURITY CAMERAS jut out at odd angles, pointing at every corner of the surrounding landscape.

And what a terrifying landscape it is. In the immediate vicinity, every other house--to the north, south, east, and west--has been burned and razed to provide Neville with an unobstructed view, and to prevent his enemies from using other structures as bases of attack.

Outlining the perimeter of Neville's house are TWO FENCES. The interior fence, only fifty feet from the house itself, is seven feet high and constructed of wooden beams and ribbons of BARBED WIRE, crisscrossed and interlaced. From within the house, once could see through, but no one could get past.

The outer fence, much higher and foreboding, forms an impenetrable square. It is composed of railroad ties, Telephone poles, metal sheets, iron staffs, barbed wired, and massive amounts of RAZOR WIRE. outside and in, it is bordered by row upon row of SHARP WOODEN PIKES, pointed out.

Between the two fences, within the compound, is a three foot deep DITCH, filled with muddy water. A crude moat. Its circle broken only by a thin LAND BRIDGE, over which now comes the Land Rover. We an ELECTRONIC WHIRRING and a STEEL DOOR, level with the ground, SLIDES BACK, revealing the slanted driveway into the UNDERGROUND GARAGE.

INT. UNDERGROUND GARAGE - DAY

Neville and the dog climb from the stopped Rover. He looks up the ramp and sees the sun begin its descent. He hits a button and the upper door slides CLOSED. He winces with pain as he pulls off the shattered halogen.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - BASEMENT

He BOLTS AND LOCKS the door to the garage, ignites THREE BIG

GENERATORS, opens a fuse box, and flips the circuit breakers.

Artificial light flickers on throughout the house.

The basement acts as a workshop, tool room, and repair facility. All manner of hardware is in stock as are various chemicals, electronics, and instruction manuals. At the opposite end of the room is a WEAPONS ARSENAL and TARGET RANGE. Neville deposits the busted lamp on a workbench and checks the rifle taken from the sniper.

NEVILLE

Sight's for shit.

He dumps it on the workbench and selects a gorgeous MARKSMAN'S RIFLE from his well-stocked arsenal.

NEVILLE

Now, if you had this, I might not be here

right now. (sardonically) Too bad.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - DUSK

Neville peels off the bodysuit. We see that his shirt is ripped above the sleeve and a shoulder badly BRUISED. He examines the vest and finds a BULLET flattened into the fabric. He pries it out and hangs the suit in his closet. He slips into some loose fitting black pants, black t-shirt, and sneakers. Clothes for mobility, agility.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DUSK

Neville looks at a shelf of VIDEOTAPES: NBC NIGHTLY NEWS/JUNE 5, 1992, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS/AUGUST 5, 1997, ABC NIGHTLINE/ DECEMBER 12, 1995, CBS EVENING NEWS/OCTOBER 27, 1994.

He pops one into a vcr and Dan Rather reports on the day's events. A long ago yesterday's events. Neville slides a CD into a player. Gorecki's Miserere. Like this morning, a wall of sound. Comforting. "Normal."

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DUSK

Neville digs into a freezer and pulls out two frozen STEAKS from a dwindling supply of meat.

NEVILLE

It's my birthday. Why not?

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - EARLY EVENING

A rather sad figure, Neville sits at a lonely little table eating his steak. Next to it, a lumpy

muffin with a thick candle stuck in its heart. A pathetic "birthday cake."

Uneaten. On the floor, the dog devours his steak--raw. Neville's disturbed by the bloodiness of the meat and can't watch the red juice drip from the dog's mouth.

Nearby, past a TV playing the news video, is a wall of CLOSED-CIRCUIT MONITORS showing grainy black-and-white images of the area surrounding the house. There's MOVEMENT on a few of the screens and Neville attunes to it instantly.

NEVILLE

They're early.

He snaps into action. Moves to a LARGE COMPUTER SET-UP near the security video console, takes a seat, and calls up a PROGRAM detailing the various ELECTRONIC CONTROLS connected to the compound. Hits the keyboard...

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - EARLY EVENING

LIGHTS. Dozens of bulbs along the outer fence ignite. others atop the roof SPRAY LIGHT onto the compound.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - DINING AREA - EARLY EVENING

Neville grabs the muffin off the table, blows out the candle, and tosses it to the dog.

NEVILLE

Happy birthday.

The dog sniffs and doesn't find the prospect too appealing.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - BASEMENT ARSENAL - NIGHT

Neville checks and loads a series of WEAPONS.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - NIGHT

He places GUNS around the house and heads UPSTAIRS.

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - ROOF - NIGHT

A HATCH opens onto a PROTECTED DECK--A makeshift "crow's nest." It screws with the aesthetics of the old home's architecture, but it serves a purpose, providing Neville with a high, secure vantage point. He rests his marksman's rifle in a crook, climbs up a small "lookout post," and raises a pair of NIGHT VISION BINOCULARS to his eyes...

IN THE DISTANCE, through the foggy green light of the glasses, we see FORMS beyond

the outside fence. Right now, there are a dozen, perhaps twenty. However, to the left, to the

right, MORE, many more, are journeying up the hill, toward the house. Hiding in the

shadows creeping behind rubble, crawling through trenches.

ON THE ROOF, Neville slides down the pole, into the house.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT

Neville opens a DOOR, revealing a small room within--a converted closet. He moves INSIDE and we see its walls are lined with numerous HOLY TEXTS and FIGURES OF WORSHIP--

A crucifix, the Buddha, a Celtic cross, rosary beeds, Hindu gods, a menorah, Norse rune stones, you name it.

Neville lights a candle and incense, silently prays. The dog rests outside the door. He becomes ALERT, hearing the SOUND before his master. AN EERIE MOAN. Low, resonant. A C Far in the distance. Beyond the walls, beyond the fence. The MOANING INTENSIFIES. The dog whimpers.

NEVILLE

I know.

The moaning subsides. It is replaced by a DEEP, RHYTHMIC DRUMMING. There is something powerful and dangerous to the beat. And it affects Neville.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Neville plays a CD. CRANKS UP THE VOLUME. The music is loud, angry and disturbing. Krzystof Penderecki. Neville moves to the computer station, presses a co

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - NIGHT

MUSIC BLARES from SPEAKERS mounted on the roof. Outside the fence, the DRUMMING INTENSIFIES. Combined with Neville's music, an odd, discordant symphony is created.

INT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Neville sits on the floor, hands covering his ears. The dog whimpers his concern. Finally, Neville SCREAMS...

NEVILLE

STOP!

He SHUTS OFF the music. Outside, the drumming continues. Neville GRABS the dog by the collar and JERKS him to a small HATCH cut into the KITCHEN DOOR. He slides back a bolt and PUSHES the dog outside. The dog looks back at Neville with sad, frightened eyes. Neville angrily instructs...

NEVILLE

IT'S YOUR JOB. GO.

He slides the hatch back in place, locking the dog outside.

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The dog begins his patrol of the inner perimeter. it is his job to alert Neville to anyone who makes it this far. out here, the DRUMMING is much louder.

EXT. NEVILLE'S HOUSE - ROOF - NIGHT

Neville emerges from the hatchway, grabs the marksman's RIFLE, adjusts the sight with the screwdriver tip of the all-in-one-tool, and positions himself in the crow's nest. He arms the weapon and raises the INFRA-RED SCOPE to his eye.

NEVILLE

All right, Cortman. I'm ready.

EXT. BARREN LANDSCAPE - NIGHT

We shift our point-of-view to the area far beyond the outer fence, to the source of the drumming. And what we see should be terrifying...

AN ARMY. A horde of awesome, frightening creatures.

Close to three hundred in number. Male and female. All have the pale, translucent skin of the creatures Neville encountered in the department store and subway, the same lack of hair, the same disturbingly blue grey/white eyes. But this group, this tribe, has something different about it. Something strong. Something imperious. Something savage.

They wear very little clothing an their magnificently shaped bodies. Most of the men and many of the women are topless, proud of their muscular torsos and ghostly flesh.

Unique TRIBAL MARKINGS AND JEWELRY adorn their bodies. However, all, each and every one of them, bear one identical mark an their chests. The "brand" Neville saw an the drained corpse in the subway car. It is their mark.

There is a hierarchy to the assembled:

Lowest are CARETAKERS, who nurse and tend to the wounded. Above them are the DRUMMERS. They intone frightening chants and beat out powerful rhythms an large decorated drums. Next are the CLERICS--A somber, serious bunch whose markings are very ornate, very significant, very "holy."

The greatest in number are the WARRIORS. The strongest, the fiercest, the most savage-appearing. Hate fills their eyes. Hate fuels them. A pure hate for one man--Neville.

Very near the top are two LIEUTENANTS, one leader of the Clerics, the other leader of the Warriors. The Cleric Lieutenant is CHRISTOPHER. An intense, almost sensitive looking fellow whose body is the most decorated, the most artistic in its impression. The Warrior Lieutenant is EVA. A fantastically strong, vicious woman whose body bears the SCARS of warfare. She possesses a manic, ferocious energy.

And the LEADER. The leader is CORTMAN.

He exudes the confidence and power of a king. His body is chiseled, his visage haunting. He commands this group with the calm of a head of state, the drive and focus of a field marshall, and the brute force of a tribal warlord.

He stands an a promontory, a big jagged hunk of concrete jutting from the earth's surface. It provides protection and perspective--beyond the range of Neville's guns, but close enough to observe his activity. There is constant movement in the ranks, but all await and heed the word of Cortman.

( *NOTE--Although these creatures consume blood, are allergic to light, and bear other similarities to vampires, they are not. They are something new, something we have never seen before, something strikingly different. There is nothing but their existence or behavior that is based in the occult or supernatural. They are real. And we will learn how and why soon enough. For the purposes of this screenplay, we will call these creatures Hemocytes. )

Cortman RAISES HIS ARM and the drummers cease.

CORTMAN

Bring her to me.

TWO WARRIORS shove forward the FEMALE Hemocyte Neville encountered in the subway. Eva forces her to "bow", in submission. Cortman gently strokes the female's cheek.

CORTMAN

You wish to join us.

She nods in the direction of Neville's house.

FEMALE

He killed my love.

CORTMAN

Neville has slaughtered so many we loved.

You want to see him dead? See him punished

for this injustice?

FEMALE

Yes!

CORTMAN

You want to feed on him.

FEMALE

Yes!

CORTMAN

Why should we grant you that privilege?

FEMALE

Why?

She reaches into the small of her back and pulls forth the PISTOL she used against Neville.

FEMALE

I'll give you this.

Cortman and others LAUGH. He takes it, examines it.

CORTMAN

I haven't played with toys since I was a

child. What about you, Eva?

He tosses it to her. She looks at it with disdain.

CORTMAN

Do you really think I need these relics of the past?

I have every weapon I need. My body. my mind.

My soul. (re the gun) Such toys are pointless. (MORE)

CORTMAN (cont'd)

Neville. He needs them. Take them away,

and he is naked.

To prove a point, Cortman nods to Eva and she SHOOTS him twice in the stomach. He LAUGHS and we watch his body heal itself, blood refusing to flow, flesh sealing the holes. Eva THROWS the gun into the night.

CORTMAN

Remind her of what she has done.

Christopher turns to his clerics and they bring forth the DRAINED CORPSE the female and her "Love" fed upon in the subway car. There is real anger in the eyes of the Clerics.

CORTMAN

You recognize him?

The female realizes she is in trouble. Cortman shows her the DISTINCTIVE BRAND on the chest. Cortman touches his own brand. Others in the tribe touch theirs.

CORTMAN

It is our mark. It distinguishes us and unites us.

Without it, we mean nothing. Without it:, we are

no better than you. And you disgust me.

FEMALE

Please...

CORTMAN

"Please." (re the corpse) Did he beg?

whimper and plea? If so, what: was your

response? How did you react? With

understanding? Compassion?

Or with hunger? And brutality?

Cortman extends his arm. He CONCENTRATES and the muscles and tendons of the forearm thicken. Elegantly, his NAILS GROW, creeping forth from the flesh, forming RAZOR-LIKE TALONS.

CORTMAN

Life is eternal.

He SLASHES her throat. SLASHES her chest once, twice. Her body spasms and twitches at the massive blood loss, but there's clearly still life in her eyes. Her FLESH tries to heal itself, to heal the wounds. Cortman looks to Eva.

CORTMAN

Who goes forth tonight?

She motions toward TEN HEMOCYTE WARRIORS, their faces and bodies painted differently than the others.

CORTMAN