Warner Bros. has officially set "Constantine" helmer Francis Lawrence to direct "I Am Legend", finally putting the long awaited film adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel on a fast track into production reports Variety.

Mark Protosevich wrote the script for the film which has been on and off in development for a decade with Ridley Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger at one time involved, Michael Bay and Will Smith at another. The film has previously hit the screen twice before - 1964's "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price, and 1976's "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston.

Set in Los Angeles after a biological war, the pic centers on the sole healthy survivor, a man who finds himself in a battle against nocturnal mutants. Pic will undergo a rewrite under the supervision of Lawrence, who is eyeing a 2006 start date.

Thanks to 'Mark'