Is it true that Will Smith begged to give him the dog from the movie “I Am Legend”, but the trainer refused the actor?

For several years, a story has been circulating on the Internet that while filming, Smith fell in love with the animal and wanted to take it for himself, but the dog’s owner did not agree with this proposal. We tried to check whether this really happened.

For example, in 2022, on VKontakte there was a public page “Rhymes and Punch” (more than 8,100 likes with 304,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) released this post: “Will Smith in the movie I Am Legend fell so in love with Abby’s dog that he tried to adopt him immediately after filming, but the dog’s trainer refused to let him.” A recording of similar content on the Pikabu website back in 2018 received more than 4,000 pluses - it was alleged that the actor was “almost on his knees begging her trainer to give up” the dog, but trainer Steve Behrens did not agree. In 2023, videos of Smith begging the coach were released on YouTube channels "Something else" And @ramila.kasumova — they collected 3.7 million and 570,000 views, respectively. At the same time, the authors some publications clarify, that the actor allegedly wanted to not just pick up, but buy the pet.

The story of Smith's attempt to become Abby's new master is also popular in "Zene", in entertainment communities on VKontakte (examples here, here, here, here And here), in Telegram channels (here, here, here, here And here), on Facebook* (here, here And here) and other sites. For example, on the Rambler/Kino portal about this story reported twice. Rarely, but still there are posts in which approvedthat the actor still bought the pet.

"I Am Legend" is an American post-apocalyptic film, the plot of which founded based on the novel of the same name by writer Richard Matheson. Main roles in the film performed Will Smith, who played Dr. Robert Neville, and a German shepherd named Abby, who was named Sam (short for Samantha) in the film.

World premiere of the film took place at the beginning of December 2007. In the middle of the same month, authoritative publications such as Today And Vulture, with reference to the host of the television program Access Hollywood Sean Robinson It was reported that while filming the film, Smith fell in love with his dog co-star Abby and wanted to take her home with him. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this analysis, the material on the MSNBC channel website is unavailable, but “Verified” found it archived copy — the news item appeared on December 14, on the day exit film in American distribution.

At the beginning of that text is told, as Smith and his four-legged friend bonded on set. According to the actor, he even had to “look after” the animal in order to win Abby’s favor. He recalled with a laugh that the trainer called their meetings with the dog “dates.” Smith then admired how the shepherd understood commands, confessed his love for her and shared a story from his childhood.

In fact, Abby helped Smith overcome his reluctance to approach the slobbering beasts.

“When I was little (I was probably about nine years old) I had a dog that got hit by a car,” the actor explained. "And I said, 'That's it! I've had enough. I won't fall in love with dogs anymore.'"

But he fell in love with Abby and even asked her trainer Steve if he could keep her.

“I begged him,” Will said. "I said, 'Please let me take Abby. Please, please, please let me take her.' But she has her own family now, so it was just another one of those fleeting Hollywood romances. One of those things that just happens. Basically, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

The trainer's name is really Abby. Steve Behrens - he runs the company Animals of Distinction and has been training animals for filming in films and TV series for several decades. "Verified" already told about him in the analysis of viral publications of 2022–2023 that Abby is still alive. Then we contacted the trainer, and, according to him, the shepherd died several years ago. Behrens found Abby at a California nursery and trained her from scratch over several weeks, followed by... semi-annual filming. According to the trainer, his company is not very large, so they take a personal approach to animals. At least until 2018 Abby lived with the family of his trainer - his daughter and her children.

In 2018, in a conversation with LADbible, Behrens touched themes of his dog's relationship with Smith. It turned out that the coach had a completely different version of events.

Behrens said the experience of working with Smith was "fabulous" and that Abby also became a big fan of her human counterpart.

He added: “After working with a lot of actors, you realize they're not very interested in animals - a lot of actors look at them as something that the audience will look at, not themselves... But Will wasn't like that at all. He understood that in front of him was his colleague and the same star, and he truly got into the role. He was amazing to work with...I think Abby really liked him and that made all the difference. I think that's one of the things in the film that I'm really happy with and really proud of - their relationship was really strong."

In fact, rumors have even started to surface that Smith is interested in becoming Abby's new owner. Behrens wouldn't necessarily be against this arrangement, but he was a little wary of it.

“He seemed to mention this through some channels, but, in truth, he did not tell me this directly,” Behrens explained.

“I didn’t want it to end badly - you know how many stars fall in love with their colleagues, and then, as soon as they star in the next film, they switch and run away ... If he had approached me directly, perhaps - I don’t know. When you coach and spend so much time in person, you develop certain relationships. She was always with us, in our house and next to our other animals. She's just always been a big part of our family."

It turns out, according to Smith, he begged Behrens to give him the dog, but the trainer refused, and according to Behrens, the actor never personally asked him to give Abby (neither of them mentioned the purchase). Thus, at the moment, the story being circulated on social networks and websites cannot be fully confirmed or refuted, since the statements of both participants contradict each other.

*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Cover photo: film “I am Legend” / Kinopoisk.ru

This is not accurate

What do our verdicts mean?

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