Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die.Andrew Kevin Walker left Penn State University in 1986 with a B.A in film and video. He moved to New York and worked in retail, whilst writing a screenplay called Se7en. He decided to move to Los Angeles to try and sell his script and came into contact with fellow screenwriter David Koepp, who showed Walker's work to executives at New Line Cinema. They promptly purchased the rights to it and, for 3 years, Andrew Kevin Walker heard nothing...
In the interim, Walker wrote an episode of TVs Tales From The Crypt, scripted a movie called Brainscan and adapted the Dean Koontz novel Hideaway for the movies. Then, production on Se7en finally started, with the director of box-office turkey Alien 3...
David Fincher, smarting from first-hand experience of studio interference on his debut Alien 3, grabbed hold of Walker's intelligent, enthralling, frightening screenplay with both hands. He secured the talents of veteran actor Morgan Freeman and rising star Brad Pitt as leads -- an experienced and fresh-faced FBI duo who are trying to stop a serial-killer who uses "The Seven Deadly Sins" as the basis of his work: Gluttony, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Lust, Pride and Wrath.
The dark, urban, depressing, persistently wet city of Se7en was inspired by Walker's own unhappy experienced of living in New York. Fincher turned to production designer Arthur Max to create a depressing world, that almost became a character in its own right. Fincher also bleach bypassed his film -- meaning the silver in the film stock itself was re-bonded, thus giving a shadowy tonal quality.
On 22 September 1995, Se7en was released into US theatres and became an immediate hit. It cost $30 million, but made $327 million worldwide. The film echoed the intelligent style of The Silence Of The Lambs from 4 years earlier, and has become a benchmark for all crime thrillers since its release.
Fincher's visuals and relentlessly dark style has been echoed in countless movies, and began to inspire TV police procedural shows; most notably 1996s Millennium and the more recent CSI series. Fincher's once unusual bleach-bypass effect is also a commonly used process in film these days.
Se7en cemented Brad Pitt as a major Hollywood star, reignited Morgan Freeman's career, made a belated star of Kevin Spacey (he was 36 when Se7en was released), helped Gwyneth Paltrow's career, ensured Andrew Kevin Walker became a major Hollywood talent and turned David Fincher's fortunes around. He went on to direct The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac.
Oh, and it also started the vogue for including numbers in the middle of film titles!
Trivia1. A comic-book series ran in 2006, focusing on each of the film's victims before they were killed. The first issue (Se7en: Gluttony) focused on "the fat man" and reproduced the film's distinctive visual style through artwork.
2. Brad Pitt injured his arm in the scene where he chases the killer through the rain. It was worked into the script.
3. The victim "SLOTH" was a real, thin actor -- not a clever puppet as some believe.
4. Somerset's office number (47) is also Joe Friday's badge number in Dragnet.
5. All the building numbers in the opening scene start with "7". The final scene's delivery time was also "7:07".
6. Writer Andrew Kevin Walker appears as the first corpse in the film.
7. All of John Doe's books were genuinely written over a period of 2 months, costing the production $15,000.
8. Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M was considered for the role of John Doe.
9. Denzel Washington turned down the part that went to Brad Pitt.
10. The word "fuck" is said 74 times in the movie.
11. David Cronenberg was offered the chance to direct, but he turned it down.
Links
Official Site
