The actor came to West Amwell for the filming of the final scenes of the sci-fi movie, "I Am Legend."
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
WEST AMWELL — Vampires in the neighborhood?
When it happens in fiction, the locals get pretty upset. They bring out garlic to ward off the creatures of the night. They employ mirrors to determine who are the undead.
When “vampires” come to town in real life, like they did last week in West Amwell, the locals couldn’t have been more thrilled. Instead of garlic, they brought their cameras. Instead of mirrors, they sought autographs.
Actor Will Smith came to the village of Mount Airy for the filming of the final scene of “I Am Legend,” a sci-fi action adventure film from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. The film is scheduled for nationwide release Dec. 14.
The movie is based on New Jersey born author Richard Matheson’s 1954 book of the same title. Two other films, “The Last Man on Earth” with Vincent Price and “The Omega Man” with Charlton Heston, also were based on the book.
Mr. Smith plays New York City scientist Robert Neville, possibly the lone survivor of an incurable, manmade virus. Alone by day, he seeks a cure for the virus.
When the sun goes down, he is outnumbered by the infected. As the tagline says, “The last man on earth is not alone.”
In addition to the extras brought in by the studio, some locals worked as unpaid extras on the all-day location shoot Nov. 8, including South Hunterdon Regional High School freshman Adam Frankowski, of Lambertville, and Cathy and Chester Urbanski, of West Amwell. Schools were closed Nov. 8 for the annual statewide teachers convention.
Adam, 14, said he wasn’t surprised location scouts chose Mount Airy as the site for a scene in a movie about the undead.
The details fit, such as “the isolation and the farms and the woods,” he said.
Despite the shoot’s hurried schedule — everything for the scene had to be completed in one day — Mr. Smith took the time to meet South Hunterdon students and staff, including Principal Don Woodring. He also paused to allow photographs.
Mr. Woodring was impressed with the Philadelphia native.
”It was really refreshing because he was so genuine,” Mr. Woodring said. “He seemed to really appreciate where he is in lie and knows where he came from.”
As part of the set for the movie’s big final scene, the crew constructed a huge faux iron door along Mount Airy-Harbourton Road. Back in the studio, the scene will be digitally enhanced. Local extras were instructed to walk toward the door as it opens.
For the filming of a post-apocalyptic world, extras were instructed to remove their winter coats, show no cameras or cell phones and hide anything with an insignia.
Mount Airy resident Joan Smith walked over from her home to check out the commotion.
Although she wasn’t an extra, she said the day proved to be “educational, fun and exciting.”
Ms. Smith was impressed with the crew’s friendliness and helpfulness.
”Everybody that is involved with the production has been a delight to talk to and been very nice to us,” she said. “It has not been an inconvenience. It’s been pleasant.”
West Amwell was chosen for the final scene because it “looks like Vermont, with an old church and the cows,” Ms. Urbanski said the crew told them.
A location scout in a helicopter discovered the site, drawn by the turning color of the leaves, Ms. Smith said a crew member told her.
Lena and Russell Fleischman’s Mount Airy-Harbourton Road house will be featured in the movie, and it also was used as a sort of base of operations.
The four-bedroom Victorian built in 1893 sits across from a farm.
”It’s a fantastic view,” Mrs. Fleischman said. “That’s what everybody said today, and that’s supposedly why they picked this.”
Two days before the shoot, someone from the film company knocked on their door and asked Mr. Fleischman if the couple wanted the house to be in the closing scene.
”He was like, well sure, we’ll do that,” Mrs. Fleischman said.
The next day, a crew came in to build the “iron” gate that would be erected nearby. They finished at 9:30 p.m. and returned Thursday, Nov. 8, to begin again at 6 a.m.
By 7 p.m. Thursday, when the shoot had wound down and the crew was wrapping up, taking down the huge gate, Mrs. Fleischman sounded pleased, but ready to call it a day.
”It’s kind of tiring, but it’s fun,” she said. “It brings everybody out, and everybody is, of course, excited. Everybody is a little bit star-struck.”
Police closed Mount Airy-Harbourton Road from the high school to Mount Airy for the duration of the filming. Closings also occurred on Route 179 and Mount Airy Village Road.
West Amwell Police Lt. Stephen Bartzak brought in officers from neighboring departments to help, but it didn’t cost taxpayers anything. He said Warner Bros. paid for the police overtime.