On social networks for about a year, there are posts about a dog playing one of the main roles in the fantastic picture of 2007. It is reported that the animal is still alive and cool. We checked whether these publications correspond to reality.

Such posts began to disperse massively at the end of August 2022. Usually they consisted of a picture divided into two parts: on top stood photo From the filming of the film "I am a legend" indicating 2007, and from below - a photo of the German shepherd with 2022. It was reported that the dog named Abby, who played in the tape, is alive and well and that she is now 15 years old. From January to April 2023, a simplified version of the post began to spread, which simply says that everything is still good with Abby - this is presented to subscribers as a joyful news.

Such publications were incredibly popular on VKontakte, where some records gained hundreds of thousands and even millions of views. About a lively and healthy Abby wrote public "Rhymes and Panchi"(1.4 million views at the time of writing this analysis), Ecstasy (623 000), "The world of cinema" (twice: 249,000 And 160,000), "Science | Science"(221 000), PRóblema (187 000), Popcorn (94,000), "Lysin Danny Devito"(55 000), F a p - f a p (51,000), "Products for animals from Europe. EuroShop Pets"(36 000), Mycomics | Marvel (28,000) and others.

Photo: screenshots of posts from the site vk.com (1 And 2)

The film "I am a legend" is a film adaptation of Richard Matison's novel of the same name, Outdoor Directed in December 2007. Will Smith played in this picture Dr. Robert Neville, living in a post-apocalyptic New York in the company of a dog named Sam (full name-Samantha). According to the IMDB movie site, the role of the animal performed German shepherds of Kon and Abby, about which they write in social networks.

Shortly before the premiere, in November 2007, Entertainment Weekly reportedThat Abby at that time was three years old. In one of the California nurseries, she was found by a trainer Steve Berens from the company Animals of Distination With almost 30 years of experience in the film industry. Berens cooked Abby, according to him, from scratch for several weeks, after which there were a six -month filming that lasted From the end of September 2006 to the end of March 2007. The “spare” dog named Kon was required due to the fact that Abby refused to play the game “Bring the subject”. Thus, by the fall of 2022, the performer of the role of Sam was supposed to be much over 15 years old.

Photo: screenshot of the page of the site berensanimals.com

As for the viral photo of Abby, allegedly made in 2022, we found his original source thanks to the opposite search for the picture on the Ladbible website. The picture is taken from the material, published In September 2018, under the heading of “Abby, a dog from the film“ I am a Legend ”, now 13 years old, and she lives a complete life.” It said that the animal is lively and great (only almost deaf) and lives with the family of his coach Steve Berens, who said that Abby enjoys the “pension” with his daughter and her children. “She has always been part of the family,” the trainer said.

In an interview with Ladbible, Berens said that he took Abby in mid -July 2006, and then at the end of September she already appeared in front of the camera. Thus, in 2023 she should have been about 18-19 years old. Data on the average life expectancy of German shepherds on different sites differ: somewhere they write about 10-15 years, somewhere-about 9–13, and somewhere they say that the dogs of this breed can reach 18 years old. You can read about individual long-lived specialists more than 20 years.

In order to set up all points over I, “verified” back in September 2022 personally wrote to Berens to find out about the fate of Abby. Unfortunately, by that time the dog had already died. “She died a couple of years ago. Abby was an excellent dog and an excellent family member, we lack her, ”her master said.