The Omega Man/Fun Facts

• The production company wanted a locale that looked like an abandoned metropolitan area, but it was too costly to build. The producer drove through Downtown Los Angeles one weekend and discovered there were no shoppers, so the majority of the film's exteriors were shot there on weekends.

• British studio Hammer Films had previously contemplated a film adaptation of Richard Matheson's book under the title of "The Night Creatures", written by Matheson himself. The project was ultimately deemed too graphic, floundered and eventually died.

• Charlton Heston had read the original novel on an airplane coming back to California, and was very interested in a modern adaptation of the book; he was totally unaware of the fact it had already been made into a film long before - The Last Man on Earth (1964) starring Vincent Price.

• Richard Matheson said that ‘The Omega Man’ was so removed from his book that it didn't even bother him.

• Neville's primary weapon during the film is a Smith and Wesson M76 Sub Machine Gun, sometimes fitted with a flashlight. During the first night attack by the Family, Neville uses a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) with an Infra-Red scope.

• The movie was the inspiration for two CBC Radio comedy series, "Steve the First" and "Steve the Second", starring Matt Watts and Mark McKinney. Each series was about a slacker (the second the son of the first), called upon to save the world after a disaster.