When the science fiction movie, I Am Legend opens last December 14th, a 2007 Shelby Mustang GT500 — in red with white stripes — was seen as Will Smith’s ride as he chews up the streets of New York City.

“There is no doubt that the Shelby Mustang GT500 is the costar of the first part of this story,” said Brian Daly of Ford Global Brand Entertainment (FGBE), which places Ford vehicles in movies, TV and other media.

“Smith plays the sole survivor of an apocalypse who races around the deserted, grey, empty streets in this fantastic bright red Mustang. The sequences are incredible.”

The movie is generating buzz on a Los Angeles Times auto blog, where automotive reporter Josh Hancock said, “The shots of the Mustang blasting around totally traffic-free New York will be the envy of every urban driver. I lost myself in that dream just with the sound of that car growling through the city streets.”

Daly began talking with Warner Bros. about ‘I Am Legend’ in the spring of 2006.

Thanks to a long working relationship with several studio executives he was able to get a “first look” at the script. “

The producers knew they wanted an American-made vehicle and the Shelby Mustang was perfect casting,” he said.

“But I also knew Chrysler and GM were making pitches. I kept imagining the folks at Camaro piecing together all kinds of prototypes to get those scenes.”

‘I Am Legend’ isn’t the first movie version of Richard Matheson’s classic 1954 science fiction novel to feature a red Ford vehicle.

A 1971 adaptation called The Omega Man put Charlton Heston behind the wheel of a bright red 1970 Ford LTD. The 2007 Shelby Mustang GT500 is a unique collaboration between performance car legend Carroll Shelby and the Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT).