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Seven (1995)
Seven is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, with Gwyneth Paltrow and John C. McGinley in supporting roles. Set in an unnamed, crime-ridden city, the narrative follows disenchanted, nearly retired Detective Lieutenant William Somerset and his newly transferred partner David Mills as they try to stop a serial killer…
Directed by David Fincher · Shot by Darius Khondji · Cut by Richard Francis-Bruce · Music by Howard Shore · Ratio 2.35:1 · 127 min
How it was made
- Andrew Walker wrote thirteen drafts of the script under an earlier director's demand for a softer ending before the project moved to New Line Cinema, where Fincher insisted on shooting Walker's original bleak head-in-the-box conclusion.
- Brad Pitt joined the production on condition the original ending survive intact, after being upset that a similarly dark ending had been cut from his previous film Legends of the Fall following poor test screenings; he also insisted Mills, not Somerset, kill Doe.
- To accommodate Pitt's schedule, producer Arnold Kopelson cut the pre-production period from twelve weeks to five.
- Fincher and Walker originally wanted Ned Beatty to play John Doe, styled after the 1969 composite sketch of the Zodiac Killer so the character could 'look like a poster'; Beatty turned it down, calling the script the most evil thing he had ever read.
Elsewhere
More by David Fincher
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