Link between "Rush" and "Legend"
I'm not calling this "odd," but it's certainly worth noting that two Warner Bros. releases opening within three weeks of each other -- Kirsten Sheridan's August Rush (11.21) and Francis Lawrence 's I Am Legend (12.14) -- appear to have used the exact same colonial-era or 19th Century townhouse building on Washington Square Park north (a building or two east of Fifth Avenue and a stone's throw from the Washington Square arch) for a key location in their respective films.
Either the brick building on the lower right or the one right next to it. (I think.)
If not, they used two buildings adjoining each other or certainly no more than two buildings apart. And both very close to the Arch with shots in both films capturing the exact same neighborhood perspective.
A fair portion of the action in I Am Legend happens inside the brick-facade, three-story townhouse in which Will Smith's "Robert Neville" character lives, with the camera catching sight of the nearby Arch at least a couple of times. In August Rush, Jonathan Rhys Meyer and Keri Russell's characters meet at a party in either the same building or one very close. They go up to the roof and talk and eventually make love (which results in Russell getting pregnant with a kid who is played later in the film by Freddie Highmore).
I don't know when I Am Legend and August Rush were shot in Manhattan, but it can be presumed either late '06 or winter-spring '07. If their schedules touched, one imagines that the location scouts for the higher-budgeted I Am Legend tipped the indie-level August Rush team about sharing the building. Maybe some kind of deal was finagled in which the Rush guys were able to come in and use the location for a day or two just before (or just after) Legend used it. If no such arrangement was made, fine...but it's a hell of a coincidence.
I would make calls about this, but I've got enough aggravation. I know how it works when you try to get info from below-the-liners, who are always terrified about talking to the press. It can sometimes take a couple of days before anyone will call you back, much less level with you...and for what? I know what I know. If anyone knows anything beyond the visually obvious, please get in touch. Thank you.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 12, 2007 at 8:40 AM
comment #1
TakeMeBackToManhattan
says ...
I was a senior at NYU at the time, and "I Am Legend" started shooting at that location almost at the immediate outset of the Fall semester. The crew stayed in the "August Rush" shoot did begin at that location almost immediately after "...Legend" moved further downtown. Within a week at the most.
Posted by TakeMeBackToManhattan
at December 12, 2007 9:59 AM
comment #2
TakeMeBackToManhattan
says ...
Sorry for the above typos, that was meant to say:
The crew stayed in the general area into the winter months, but the "August Rush" shoot did begin at that location almost immediately after "...Legend" moved further downtown. Within a week at the most.
Posted by TakeMeBackToManhattan
at December 12, 2007 10:01 AM
comment #3
ZayTonday
says ...
Every time I see that arch I think of "Kids" when Casper beats the shit out of some punk with a skateboard.
Posted by ZayTonday
at December 12, 2007 10:13 AM
comment #4
Breedlove
says ...
I saw Freddy Highmore buying a dimebag in the park, last December I think it was. So yeah.
Posted by Breedlove
at December 12, 2007 10:26 AM
comment #5
Devin Faraci
says ...
"I know how it works when you try to get info from below-the-liners, who are always terrified about talking to the press. It can sometimes take a couple of days before anyone will call you back, much less level with you...and for what?"
Jesus can I identify with this frustration.
Posted by Devin Faraci
at December 12, 2007 10:29 AM
comment #6
vansmith
says ...
many nights and days in that park. on another note Alien vs Predator part two coming out of XMAS!! yeah baby......
Posted by vansmith
at December 12, 2007 10:43 AM
comment #7
le corbeau
says ...
There's a building not far from my house in Chicago that is striking because it sits on a three-way corner; all through the 90s it turned up in movie after movie shot here. (A SWAT team attacks it in Baby's Day Out, for instance. I met Fred Thompson there during that shoot.) I don't think that's anything more than laziness by location scouts or directors glomming onto the same place for the same reasons over and over.
Posted by le corbeau
at December 12, 2007 11:01 AM
comment #8
Fred Mounts
says ...
In August Rush, Jonathan Rhys Meyer and Keri Russell's characters meet at a party in either the same building or one very close. They go up to the roof and talk and eventually make love (which results in Russell getting pregnant with a kid who is played later in the film by Freddie Highmore
_________________________
It's not like I plan to see the movie, but what exactly did this plot point have to do with your story? You do this kind of stuff just for the potential of ruining someone's experience, I think. You're like the kid in school who thought tripping people was a riot.
Posted by Fred Mounts
at December 12, 2007 11:32 AM
comment #9
lazarus
says ...
Scott Foundas just raved I Am Legend in the Village Voice (and L.A. Weekly, I'm assuming). I don't know if this lowers his credibility or raises the film's, but I guess I'll have to see it now based on what he's written.
See for yourself.
Posted by lazarus
at December 12, 2007 1:13 PM
comment #10
PastePotPete
says ...
Fred Mounts, that part you quoted is in the trailers.
Posted by PastePotPete
at December 12, 2007 6:09 PM
comment #11
le corbeau
says ...
I don't know if this lowers his credibility or raises the film's
I know.
Posted by le corbeau
at December 12, 2007 8:42 PM
comment #12
Fred Mounts
says ...
Well, hell. Just goes to show how little interest I had in the movie. I was a little too protective of the people who do want to see it, and a little to quick to beat on Wells. Must have been my frustation over his Indiana Jones hate.
Yum, crow tasty!
Posted by Fred Mounts
at December 13, 2007 5:34 AM