Es war
Lippert had wanted to make a "last man on Earth"-type film for a while. In the late 1950s Charles Marquis Warren and Robert Stabler optioned a novel by science fiction writer George R. Stewart called "Earth Abides". Harry Spalding, who worked for Lippert, said the release of "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" (1959) killed off plans for that project. Spalding then read Matheson's novel and suggested Lippert film that book instead. The project was announced in August 1962.