In ranking the greatest dogs in cinema history, no doubt Sam from 2007’s I Am Legend is in the discussion. Not only was her presence crucial to the movie – up until her devastating final scene – but her portrayer was also quite the actress. And who better to know than her human counterpart, Will Smith?

Appearing on Hot Ones, Will Smith praised Abbey, the German Shepherd who took on the role of Robert Neville’s companion Sam in I Am Legend. “It was like working with a brilliant actress,” he said, noting that he was completely blown away by just how good of a performer Abbey was. “Abbey’s doing that…[A dog trainer] trained Abbey to go limp and I laid her [down]. How do you train a dog to go limp?” Sam was also partly played by another German Shepherd, Kona, who must have been a real bitch if Smith so rarely mentions that pooch…

Instead, all the love goes to Abbey. “It was like Abbey spoke English…Like, she literally could understand you, it was the weirdest thing.” Smith had such a strong bond with Abbey that he even tried adopting her, although he wasn’t allowed since she was “the breadwinner of the family.” According to IMDb, the sole screen credit for both Abbey and Kona is I Am Legend.

Smith actually recently named I Am Legend as one of his four favorite movies of his own and it seems apparent that working with Abbey might be a chief reason for that.

The sequel to I Am Legend is evidently still moving forward, with both Smith and new addition Michael B. Jordan showing confidence in the project. As the latter put it, “We’re still working on the script and getting that up to par. It doesn’t have a release date or anything like that. I’m not sure exactly where we’re going to be filming that one, but I’m really excited to get in front of the camera with [Smith].”

Where would you place I am Legend’s Abbey in your list of the greatest movie dogs ever? What made her so crucial to the story for you? Drop your comments below!

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