Ford fun in I Am Legend
by Alex Nunez on Jan 4th 2008 at 3:33PM 
Click image for more Fords in I Am Legend
Product placements in films get a lot of virtual ink here at Autoblog, probably because we all like cars (obviously) and are, for the most part, movie buffs. The carmaker placement king over the last year was unquestionably Transformers, which did more to expose (and evangelize) the new Camaro to the masses than GM's marketing department could ever have hoped. The Bond films are always good for some car-related water-cooler discussion, and last year also saw VW use The Bourne Ultimatum to shill for the Touareg 2. Ford's been kind of off the blockbuster radar since Casino Royale, but makes a tidy comeback in the new Will Smith thriller, I Am Legend.
Over the holidays, I managed to slink away from the wife and kids for a couple of hours to catch the film with some friends. As a movie it's imperfect but very entertaining, with a nice performance by Will Smith. The Ford stuff is very noticeable if you're aware of this sort of thing, and for the most part the cars are used well.
NOTE: Since I'm going to reference some scenes and elements that are spoilerish in nature, including the film's ending, I'll give the rundown after the jump.
An adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, which has been visited by Hollywood twice before (The Last Man on Earth, 1964 and The Omega Man, 1971), the film is the story of Dr. Robert Neville, an Army scientist who is the sole human being in New York City after a virus has wiped most of humanity off the map and turned those who didn't die into super-agile monsters. Neville, with only his dog Sam to keep him company, is working to find a cure to the virus and hopefully connect with any other survivors who share his immunity to it.
Now, on to the car stuff. There are three obvious Ford placements and one cool Easter Egg for observant car geeks (like myself). LAST WARNING: I will talk about spoiler-type scenes in the film, including the ending, so if you plan to see I Am Legend, I recommend you come back after you've checked it out. Here we go.
- Ford gets major play in the opening minutes of the film, which have Neville racing through deserted city streets chasing a herd of deer in a red Shelby GT500 that Manhattan Ford no longer needed, seeing its clientele is either A) dead or B) hairless, bloodthirsty monsters. Dr. Neville seems like a pretty good driver, too, as he powerslides the Mustang through corners (with Sam the dog riding shotgun, unfettered), steering with one hand while lining up a fleeing deer in the sights of his M4 at what must be 70 mph. It's so much fun to watch (and listen to... especially when the blower whine cuts through the deafening cacophony of the engine) that you're more than happy to ignore the fact that the car looks like it was just detailed. Granted, Dr. Neville does have plenty of free time on his hands.
Here's the GT500 sequence in its entirety: - Mustang fans will be disappointed to learn that after the film's opening scenes, the GT500 doesn't make another appearance. The "hero car" for the remainder of the film is an accessorized black Expedition (shown here), which appears to be one of a pair that Neville rides in during flashback sequences showing the evacuation/quarantining of Manhattan after virus hell has broken loose. It also gets used in a memorable scene that takes place following a highly traumatic encounter between Neville, his dog, and some monster baddies. We learn that off-road lights aren't popular with night-stalking creatures, and jumbo SUVs make for excellent bowling balls when they're driven into swarms of monsters. At least until the monsters get organized and flip said SUV onto its roof, putting our hero in peril.
- The final scene of the film involves Anna and Ethan, two other survivors who (very conveniently) find Dr. Neville and rescue him as he is about to become monster chow in the scene described above. In the final minutes of the movie, they pull up to a gigantic walled and gated survivors' colony in Vermont. They're carrying Dr. Neville's cure to the virus in an inexplicably immaculate Ford Escape that's lovingly photographed head-on as it arrives. My first thought after noting the product placement was, "Who knew that keeping your cars sparkling was such a critical part of humanity's fight for survival?" Then comes the closing voiceover and we fade to black.
- The most interesting bit of Ford placement is something only car geeks are likely to notice, and only if they pay very close attention to the background. It happens early in the picture. At the end of the GT500 deer hunting sequence, we're presented with a wide shot of Times Square, which is, as you know, covered in advertising. All the fanboys in the audience immediately noticed a billboard for a mythical Batman/Superman crossover movie. I was drawn to another billboard -- a make-believe Ford advertisement for some future model. That future model, in this case, happened to be the Ford Interceptor Concept. Damn you, Ford, for waiting until the apocalypse happens to give it to us!
UPDATE: As pointed out in the comments, the reason the GT500 Robert Neville drives in the movie is so squeaky clean is that in a scene that didn't make the theatrical cut, we see him take the Mustang from a Ford showroom. Hopefully, the DVD will include this as supplemental material or in some form of Director's Cut. I Am Legend only had a running time of 1:40 or so, so why they didn't/couldn't include this is beyond me. The scene involves a stunt in which the Shelby is driven through the front window of the showroom.
Below, I've added two YouTube videos taken by bystanders of that stunt. The take captured in the second one looks like it might have ended a bit messily. FYI also, the F-word is dropped by the shooter in the first one.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
iAMlegend 9:41PM (1/30/2008)
well the car anna takes neville home in after he tries to suicide-attack the monsters is never really shown but by the engine whine you can infer that it's a gt500
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donvineland 10:54AM (2/08/2008)
Based on the rumours on the internet ,the Ford Interceptor might be the 2010 Ford Taurus.Maybe that is why it was placed in the movie.
kaveh 10:16PM (2/05/2008)
perfect car chosen for the movie as the mustang is a "legend".
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ermax18 3:45PM (1/04/2008)
Man, enough of the Mustangs. My god!
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thomas m. 5:07PM (1/04/2008)
to all you anti-mustang fanboys and people who said the movie was 'crappy',
why bother posting? to sound cool to the other 'haters'?
im sick of everyone posting anti-mustang comments every time something is covered and it honestly made me visit this site less. my few encounters with jalopnik about the peons posting here. not saying you all are. just most of you.
don't think the mustang is a good car? skip the article and read something about your stupid mugen honda. but if you get outside one day and actually endeavor into a car and how it actually works you'd be surprised. and id bet 9 times out of 10 my 1991 lx would spank whatever you drive.
/rant over.
ermax18 5:18PM (1/04/2008)
I am not a bias auto enthusiast. I am very open minded to any make or model. Ok.. I am bias to manual tranys and RWD but that is it. I am not a anti-mustang fanboy. Come to think of it, I don't drink any Koolaid. I am just saying the masses of Mustang posts get old.
adam 3:47PM (1/04/2008)
If you're a car guy, that movie is not much more than a 100 minute advertisement for Ford vehicles (not just the Mustang). And Apple was pretty prevalent too...
VW's insertion in the Bourne Ultimatum was at least tasteful.
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Hike15 3:57PM (1/04/2008)
Are there any pics of the advertisement in times square?
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Alex Nunez 3:53PM (1/04/2008)
No, but not for lack of trying. We requested one from Ford, which had to go to Warners. Warners wouldn't play ball, so no Times Square pic.
ALEXDB9 3:52PM (1/04/2008)
Crappy movie, crappy car (no offense to stang owners). It had to happen.
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MachinaDC5 4:02PM (1/04/2008)
You'd think if you were (presumably) the last person alive in NYC you could find a car a little better.
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Mark 4:04PM (1/04/2008)
If you're going to dog on I am Legend for product placement you should take into consideration that it pales in comparison to the blatant and shameless 2.5 hour General Motors commercial that was Transformers, and all the Mercedes advertising in X-men 3. In fact, I can't think of a single action/adventure movie in recent history that wasn't packed with ads.
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geo.stewart 5:20PM (1/04/2008)
oh, and please dont forget the worst. the dodge emblem on the front of the fantastic four vehicle...
maybe not the most prevalent (transformers) but certainly the worst for a reach to include a logo.
tankd0g 3:11PM (1/18/2008)
Ironically, the coolest car BY FAR in transformers movie was the mustang.
Mark 3:15PM (1/18/2008)
Oh no kidding! The exhaust tone on that thing gave me the chills, and I don't even like mustangs.
Red Star 4:04PM (1/04/2008)
How about some pictures of Expedition?
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Alex Nunez 4:32PM (1/04/2008)
None, though you do see it in the background here:
http://us.vdc.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0480249/Ss/0480249/IALD02688r.jpg.html?hint=group
F-L-M 4:55PM (1/04/2008)
Expy pics:http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_110104-Ford-Expedition-EL-U324-2007.html
Alex Nunez 4:57PM (1/04/2008)
Thanks, F-L-M. I threw the link into the post body as well.
Mr_D 9:59AM (1/05/2008)
If I recall correctly, the Mustang in the opening sequences (why do we never see it in the movie again?) is a callback to The Omega Man, another movie based on I Am Legend. It also had a brand new Mustang in the opening sequences. This is something I read in some review, so maybe the review is false.
The other parts of the movie needed product placement - it's the near future, I would expect to see that kind of stuff. It's not like it was blatant. It wasn't like Will Smith said "Sam! Night is coming! We must flee in my Ford Expedition! Its 5.4L Triton V8 will surely give us the power we need, and AdvanceTrac with RSC will help us make it there safely!"
The final shot did seem a bit gratuitous, though.
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