All I Have To Say Is This Will Smith Vehicle Better Be Fucking Brilliant

Part and parcel of the NYU experience is waiting for film crews to finish a take before you are allowed to continue on to class:

For the past few weeks, the line between day and night has been blurred in Washington Square Park: Enormous floodlights have lit up the park, making it glow from blocks away. Production equipment often sits unused in the day, and hundreds work through the night.

This is the production scene of “I Am Legend,” starring Will Smith. The science-fiction action film, slated for release in fall 2007, is based on a 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson.

But some NYU students say the excitement — which will end Friday when production moves to another part of the city — is backfiring.

Though filming has been mostly at night, the park has been closed periodically during the day. At night, other lighting in the park often has to be turned off — while the lights from the production itself dominate.

“The lights shine through my windows at night,” said Boris Tartakovsky, a Stern freshman living in park-adjacent Goddard residence hall. “They have just taken over Washington Square.”

Steinhardt freshman Melanie Field said the production is cool, but the inconvenience isn’t.

“The other day, it was raining, and a guy with a walkie-talkie said, ‘Wait five minutes, we’re filming,’ so I had to stand there in the rain waiting to go to class,” she said. “They may be filming, but I’m living.”

Location Scout: Washington Square Park.