ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 22nd
"SE7EN" released in 1995
There are seven deadly sins - Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Lust, Wraith, Pride, and Envy - and somewhere in an unnamed, rain drenched city, a serial killer is using each sin to punish the sinners, with a jaded veteran and an eager rookie detective hot on his trail, in David Fincher's neo-noir psychological thriller Se7en!
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Soon-to-be-retiring detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is partnered with short-tempered but idealistic David Mills (Brad Pitt), who recently transferred to the department, moving to the city with his wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow). Their first case together involves the brutal murder of an obese man who, according to the autopsy later, was forced to eat until his stomach ruptured. It isn't until Mills investigates a second victim - a high profile defense attorney Eli Gould (Gene Borkan), who died from bloodletting after removing a pound of his own flesh - that they discover a single word, "Greed", written in the victims blood on the carpet. Using this one clue, Somerset finds a similar word, "Gluttony", hidden behind the obese victims refrigerator, and is able to deduce that the killer is recreating the Seven Deadly Sins as written in Dante's epic poem The Divine Comedy. Now recognizing that the victims are related, Somerset warns that there will be five more victims. Acting on a clue given by Mrs Gould (Julie Araskog), Somerset and Mills discover a message written in fingerprints - Help Me - that belonged to a known drug dealer and child molester. But rather than being the perpetrator, he is actually the third victim (Sloth), with photos indicating the killer has had him strapped to his own bed for a year, proving the killer has been planning these deaths for some time. Using somewhat "unethical" means, Somerset contacts a source he has in the FBI and is provided with a computer printout of individuals who have checked out various books concerning the seven deadly sins and other works from the public library. They quickly identify a man on the list, known simply as John Doe (Kevin Spacey), and confront him at his apartment building. A gun fight and foot chase quickly ensues, and Mills is wounded by Doe. Returning to Doe's apartment, they find hundreds of handwritten journals showing Doe's apparent psychopathy, and clues leading to a fourth victim. But they arrive too late to prevent the death of the next two victims (Lust and Pride); a prostitute killed by an unwilling man forced by Doe to wear a bladed S&M phallic device on his genitals and to rape and kill her while severely traumatizing him, and an attractive young woman, presumably a model, whose face has been mutilated by Doe and who chose suicide rather than to live disfigured. As Somerset and Mills return to the police station, they are approached by Doe covered in blood, surrendering himself. But just as the Police Captain (R. Lee Ermey) and the District Attorney Martin Talbot (Richard Roundtree) think the case is over, Doe still has the upper hand and devises a plan to complete his work, involving Somerset and Mills in a deadly confrontation.
[turning to Somerset]
David Mills: Honestly, have you ever seen anything like this?
William Somerset: No.
Top: Det. Somerset (Morgan Freeman) explains the seven deadly sins the killer is using as tropes in his murders;
Above: Somerset and rookie Det. Mills (Brad Pitt) investigate the "Pride" murder scene
The primary influence for the film's screenplay came from Andrew Kevin Walker's time spent in New York City, while trying to make it as a screenwriter. Walker wrote the script over a two year period while working at a branch of Tower Records, later stated, "I didn't like my time in New York, but it's true that if I hadn't lived there I probably wouldn't have written Seven." Walker had enormous difficulty getting a studio to buy the rights to his script because he was a complete unknown in Hollywood. Allegedly, he put together a list of agents that represented writers that work in the crime and thriller genres, and just called each one up until he got a positive response and the script was picked up by New Line Cinema. Immediately, the studio wanted this film to be it's first A-List production - attaching known stars and an experienced director - but had difficulty in the beginning of development attracting talent. David Cronenberg and Guillermo del Toro turned down the chance to direct (del Toro stated as a romantic, he didn't "subscribe to the script's dark view of the world.") and both Al Pacino and Denzel Washington - early choices for Somerset and Mills - both declined as well; Pacino declined, as he was already scheduled to film City Hall (1996), and Washington turned down the offer, deeming the film to be "too dark." Both actors however later expressed regret in not taking their individual offers.
At the time, David Fincher had not read a script for a year and a half since after the frustrating experience of making Alien 3 (1992) - where he constantly battled with the studio and was even fired three times - said, "I thought I'd rather die of colon cancer than do another movie". Fincher eventually agreed to direct the film because he was drawn to the script, which he found to be a "connect-the-dots movie that delivers about inhumanity. It's psychologically violent. It implies so much, not about why you did but how you did it". He found it more a "meditation on evil" rather than a "police procedural". Fincher was also determined to make the film without compromising his vision. Fincher thought that Morgan Freeman would turn down the role of William Somerset, thinking he'd feel the film was "too down market.", but he was the first one to eagerly join the cast. Brad Pitt was later cast as David Mills and, according to Fincher, both perfect during the first read-through of the script. With Pitt in the cast also proved fortuitous for the filmmakers as Fincher's first choice for the part of Tracey Mills was Pitt's then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow, having been impressed with her work in Flesh and Bone (1993). Paltrow was initially not interested, so Fincher had to ask Pitt to get her to come in and meet with him.
[cautioning Mills]
William Somerset: If we catch John Doe and he turns out to be the devil, I mean if he's Satan himself, that might live up to our expectations, but he's not the devil. He's just a man.
Top and Above: Using a tip from an "unethical" source, Somerset and Mills confront John Doe (Kevin Spacey)
Kevin Spacey was cast as serial killer John Doe two days before filming began. The producers intended that Kevin Spacey should receive top billing at the start of the movie but he insisted that his name not appear in the opening credits, so as to surprise the audience with the identity of the killer. To compensate, he is listed twice in the closing credits: once before the credits start rolling, and once in the rolling credits in order of appearance. Another advantage from Spacey's point of view, as he saw it, was that he was excluded from the film's marketing during its release, meaning he didn't have to make any public appearances or do any interviews. Before filming began, Spacey asked Fincher if he should shave his head and he told him "If you do it, I'll do it" and so they were both bald for the rest of the film! Famously, Fincher once told Spacey and Pitt, "this is not going to be the movie that you're remembered for, but it may be a movie you're incredibly proud of."
The crowded urban streets filled with noisy denizens and an oppressive rain that seems to fall without respite were integral parts of the film, as Fincher wanted to show a city that was "dirty, violent, polluted, often depressing. Visually and stylistically, that's how we wanted to portray this world." In fact, the filmmakers decided it should always be raining for two reasons: It added a sense of dread; and they never had to worry about bad weather. It was while filming the scene where Mills chases John Doe in the rain, that Pitt fell and his arm went through a car windscreen, requiring surgery. This accident was worked into the script of the film, which, Coincidentally, the original script did call for Pitt's Det. Mills character to be injured during this sequence - but to something other than his hand.
William Somerset: [discovering what's inside the package] California, tell your people to stay away. Stay away now, don't - don't come in here. Whatever you hear, stay away! John Doe has the upper hand!
Top and Above: Somerset and Mills have a deadly final confrontation with Doe in the desert
When looking for the part of sloth victim Victor, Fincher stated that he wanted to find someone who was incredibly skinny, around 90 lbs. Michael Reid MacKay auditioned, and at the time weighed 96 lbs. Fincher gave him the part and jokingly told him to lose some more weight. Much to his surprise, MacKay turned up to filming having lost another 6 lbs. Make-up for the MacKay took over 14 hours, with special make-up effects designer Rob Bottin using a set of exaggerated teeth to make the head look smaller and more shrunken from malnutrition. When filming the 'sloth' victim scene, the SWAT officers were not told that the victim was still alive, so when the victim coughs and scares the SWAT officers, their reaction was very real! For the gluttony scene, seven crates of cockroaches were released on the set and poured on Bob Mack - who plays the gluttony victim. Something had to be put in Mack's ears and nose to stop the cockroaches from crawling in, however, that didn't stop them from going into his underwear. Fincher said on the DVD commentary that he felt bad for the actor who had to wear all the hot, heavy Gluttony prosthetics, so to compensate, he made the gluttony autopsy-dummy very well endowed. For the greed scene, Gene Borkan who plays the victim was 'hog-tied' and only wearing his underwear for most of shooting, and he was covered in over 2 gallons of fake blood. The blood was so thick and sticky that his knees became stuck to the floor.
The ending of the screenplay - with the head in the box - was originally part of an earlier draft that New Line had rejected, instead opting for an ending that involved more traditional elements of a detective thriller film with more action-oriented elements. But when New Line sent David Fincher the screenplay to review for his interest in the project, they accidentally sent him the original screenplay with the head-in-the-box ending. When New Line realized that they had sent Fincher the wrong draft, the President of Production, Michael De Luca, met with Fincher and noted that there was internal pressure to retain the revised version; De Luca stated that if Fincher promised to produce the movie, they would be able to stay with the head-in-a-box ending (despite producer Arnold Kopelson refusing to allow the film to include the scene). The 'head in a box' ending continued to worry the studio after filming was completed. The original intention was for the film to suddenly end after Mills shot John Doe, but after the first cut of the film was shown to the studio, they attempted to mitigate the bleakness of the ending by replacing Mills' wife's head with that of a dog. Another alternate ending revealed that John Doe did not murder Mills' wife, only substituting a lookalike. Mills then has no justification for killing an unarmed man, and will spend the rest of his life in jail. Somerset decides not to retire, and instead gives his country house to Mills' wife and her unborn baby. One filmed ending had Somerset shooting John Doe instead of Mills. Reportedly Freeman prefered the latter ending that the younger detective would still have a life after the events of the film. But it was Brad Pitt's argument that there was no way Mills wouldn't have shot John Doe for what he had done, and the star joined Fincher in arguing for keeping this original scene. Later scenes of Mills being taken away and Somerset's quote from Ernest Hemingway were filmed by Fincher after initial filming was complete as a way to placate the studio.
[last lines]
William Somerset: Hemingway once wrote, "The world's a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.
Top and Above: Director David Fincher on set and location
Released on September 22nd, New Line Cinema later re-released Se7en in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, on Christmas Day and in New York City on December 29, 1995, in an attempt to generate Academy Award nominations for Freeman, Pitt, and Fincher, which was ultimately unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Se7en was a massive hit at the box office, grossing over $300 million worldwide and was very well received by critics, with Gary Arnold, in The Washington Times, praising the cast: "The film's ace in the hole is the personal appeal generated by Mr. Freeman as the mature, cerebral cop and Mr. Pitt as the young, headstrong cop. Not that the contrast is inspired or believable in itself. What gets to you is the prowess of the co-stars as they fill out sketchy character profiles." Sheila Johnston, in her review for The Independent, praised Freeman's performance: "The film belongs to Freeman and his quiet, carefully detailed portrayal of the jaded older man who learns not to give up the fight." In his review for Sight and Sound, John Wrathall wrote, "Seven has the scariest ending since George Sluizer's original The Vanishing...and stands as the most complex and disturbing entry in the serial killer genre since Manhunter." The consensus on film-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reading: "A brutal, relentlessly grimy shocker with taut performances, slick gore effects, and a haunting finale."
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 80%
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