What Director David Fincher Reveals About the Box in Se7en

Few crime thrillers end with as much impact as this one.
the ending of \”Se7en.\”
The thriller directed by David Fincher is renowned for the chilling scene where Detective William Somerset (played by Morgan Freeman) uncovers the severed head of his partner\’s pregnant wife, Tracy Mills (portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow), which was delivered by the sinister John Doe (acted by Kevin Spacey). This gruesome act serves as part of Doe’s perverse “lesson,” designed to manipulate David Mills (Brad Pitt) into succumbing to rage and thus completing Doe’s final statement.

However, what did Morgan Freeman actually find when he opened the box and peered inside? According to Fincher, it contained just a wig and some weights.

When speaking with
Entertainment Weekly
Regarding the remaster of \”Seven\” 30 years later, the director debunked the long-standing internet urban legend surrounding it.
The severed head of Gwyneth Paltrow used in \”Contagion\”
was initially designed for his 1995 suspense film. \”It’s completely absurd. We used either a seven- or eight-pound weight sack,\” Fincher stated, mentioning that they calculated exactly what Paltrow’s head might have weighed. \”We utilized a weighted prop along with a wig; the wig even had some fake blood, making parts of the hair clump together at times.\” Recalling the shoot, he mentioned Freeman meticulously opened more than a dozen containers during production, emphasizing that regardless of whether viewers caught sight of the detached head, having someone as talented as him ensured everything looked convincing enough.

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Brad Pitt Refused to Star in Se7en Without the Box Scene

Just as crucial as the head-in-the-box scene is to wrapping up \”Se7en,\” it nearly got axed completely. The studio felt that slicing off Tracy’s head was excessively graphic and planned to remove it altogether. Yet, following the excision of one of his most cherished scenes in an earlier movie, \”Legends of the Fall,\” Brad Pitt went above and beyond to preserve this conclusion. Recalling the incident, he stated, “For ‘Se7en,’ my only demand was: the head must stay inside the box.” This statement came during a conversation with him.
Entertainment Weekly
In 2011, \”Include in the contract that the head remains inside the box.\”

Moreover, the studio attempted to portray David Mills as more of a heroic figure by having him refrain from killing John Doe at the conclusion. However, Pitt also opposed this idea. He stressed, “In the end, he must shoot the murderer.” He added, “His action isn’t driven by what’s right; rather, it stems from his emotional drive.”

It was indeed the correct decision, one that David Fincher fully understood. Actually, he would not have directed the movie at all without that particular conclusion; he agreed to take on the project only after reading an earlier version of Andrew Kevin Walker’s script. The entire impact of “Seven” hinges upon the intensity and distress evoked by the concluding sequence. Both Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman deliver career-defining performances here. Despite never actually showing Tracy’s severed head inside the box, the reactions of Somerset and Mills as they grapple with increasingly intimate forms of torment break viewers\’ preconceived notions about human wickedness. This underscores the chilling depths humanity can sink to.
Why wasn\’t a follow-up movie made for \”Seven\”?
— because after this, there isn’t really anything else left to add.

Read the
Original Article on Velvet Voice
.