David Fincher has revealed that Denzel Washington turned down his 1995 thriller Se7en despite the script being rewritten “10 or 11 times” to suit him.
Washington’s relationship to Se7en was first revealed in 2012, when the Oscar-winning actor said he rejected a role in the film – and that it was one of his biggest professional regrets. He did not elaborate on why he turned down the movie. And now, speaking to The Independent in conjunction with Se7en’s new re-release, Fincher said that he doesn’t know why Washington said no to the film, either – as the offer was made to the star long before Fincher himself was recruited to direct.
“Denzel’s manager ended up being a producer on Se7en – but I think it was kind of a bait and switch,” Fincher recalled. “It was like, ‘if I produce the film, you can get Denzel’.”
Fincher continued: “I was told that Denzel had read the script, didn’t like it, and that the script was then rewritten, like, 10 or 11 times to suit him. It was rewritten ad nauseam, ad infinitum, in an attempt to get Denzel to say yes. But by the time I got involved, Denzel had long passed.”
The filmmaker, whose other credits include Fight Club, The Social Network and Zodiac, said that Washington was not the only person to pass up the chance of being in the film – naming Al Pacino as another actor who turned Se7en down.
“Almost everybody that I sent it to originally also passed,” Fincher said. “I sent it to Ned Beatty to play [the film’s serial killer] John Doe, and he wouldn’t even consider it. I was interested in Gene Hackman, and I met with him for about 20 minutes and Gene said, ‘I don’t shoot nights’. I said, ‘it’s been lovely meeting you, I’m a huge fan, but half the movie takes place at night – there’s no changing that.”
Before Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt ultimately signed onto the film, Fincher struggled to cast the movie’s two lead detectives, who are tasked with investigating a serial killer modelling his crimes after the seven deadly sins.
“Almost everyone thought that the film was far too ghoulish to deal with,” he said.
Fincher was speaking to The Independent in celebration of a new 4K re-release of the classic film, a years-in-the-making task overseen by Fincher himself and sourced from the original camera negative.
The movie, which grossed more than $300m (£239m) worldwide and co-starred Kevin Spacey, will also be released in IMAX cinemas in London this month. Tickets can be bought here.
