Matheson on "The Omega Man"&"The Last Man On Earth"

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Richard Matheson wrote the short sci-fi horror novel, "I Am Legend",
which was published in 1954, an apocalyptic tale of a lone man battling against plague-created vampires who craved his blood.
The novel was adapted to the screen twice, once in 1964, via a low-budget Italian/American production, entitled "The Last Man On Earth",
starring Vincent Price as the protagonist; then again via a higher
budget American production in 1971, "The Omega Man", featuring
Charleston Heston.
Matheson stated that TLMOE was a more faithful adaptation to his
novel, but that the production was poor, and that Price was a too particular kind of actor to adequately portray the "everyman" type
of character that Neville was intended to be. (Heston, for one thing,
actually physically resembled Neville of the novel much closer than did Price.) Matheson admitted that there are
close similarities between TLMOE and Romero's later 1960's "Night of
the Living Dead".
Matheson also said that "The Omega Man" was so different from the
novel as to defy close comparsion, but did say that Heston fit the role
of Neville better than Price. Both films ended differently from the
novel.
Should a third effort be in order? Anyone who has read the novel,
knows that the ending was not good for Neville (or perhaps it was,
considering the dooming circumstances!) and a bit ironic. - AH

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Topic - Matheson on "The Omega Man"&"The Last Man On Earth" - AudioHead 15:43:39 07/23/01 (3)

Re: Matheson on "The Omega Man"&"The Last Man On Earth" - Pam 19:00:04 07/23/01 (2)

Pam, Were You Aware Of The Temporal Glitch In The....... - AudioHead 12:39:21 07/24/01 (0)

Re: Matheson on "The Omega Man"&"The Last Man On Earth" - AudioHead 21:38:55 07/23/01 (0)

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