Six years after starring collectively within the Civil Struggle drama Glory, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman almost reunited in David Fincher’s masterful crime movie, Se7en. Nevertheless, in probably the most regretful choices of his Hollywood profession, Washington turned down the function of Detective David Mills, which opened the door for Brad Pitt to star in his largest breakout function outdoors of Thelma & Louise.
Along with turning into an A-list film star following Se7en, the movie marked the primary of three iconic collaborations between Pitt and Fincher, together with Combat Membership and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Because the all-time nice crime film celebrates its thirtieth anniversary in 2025, followers are certain to get a thrill to be taught why Denzel turned down the prospect to star in Se7en and the way he dealt with the choice afterward.
Brad Pitt Broke Out as David Mills in ‘Se7en’
In probably the most intelligent crime scripts of the Nineties, Andrew Kevin Walker’s Se7en follows the veteran, nearly-retired Lieutenant Detective William Somerset (Freeman) and his newly transferred youthful companion, Detective David Mills (Pitt). Set in wet Seattle, Washington, and directed with fashionable, moody element by David Fincher, the story follows Somerset and Mills as they pursue a psychotic serial killer who goes by the alias John Doe, performed with icy menace by Kevin Spacey.
Impressed by the Bible’s seven lethal sins, John Doe begins murdering sordid people that suffer from gluttony, greed, envy, lust, sloth, wrath, and pleasure. John Doe begins threatening Mills’ spouse and unborn baby, and the private {and professional} blur with excessive stakes, culminating in probably the most disturbing and stunning endings of all time. The performances and masterful craftsmanship throughout the board stay so robust 30 years later that Se7en’s rating at #20 on IMDb’s Prime 250 Motion pictures ever made is well-deserved.
Whereas it is true that Pitt had already amassed over 30 credit earlier than starring in Se7en, together with vital performances in Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise, Robert Redford’s A River Runs By It, Tony Scott’s True Romance, and Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire, Se7en shot his star wattage into a complete new stratosphere, and he has Denzel to thank.
In Se7en, Pitt showcased a vulnerability beforehand unseen by the actor, significantly within the later scenes the place Mills grapples together with his spouse’s grisly destiny. Pitt’s efficiency reverse Freeman and Spacey was so robust that Fincher solid him once more in Combat Membership, probably the greatest motion pictures of the Nineties, and in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a 13-time Oscar nominee and 4-time winner. Benjamin Button earned Pitt his second Oscar nomination and first for Greatest Actor in a Main Function.
Why Denzel Washington Turned Down ‘Se7en’
After co-starring with Morgan Freeman and successful an Oscar for his efficiency in Glory, Denzel Washington was provided an opportunity to reunite with the revered actor in Se7en. As soon as Freeman was solid as Detective Somerset, Fincher provided the function of David Mills to Washington, who learn the script and turned it down for one particular purpose.
Fellow Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx requested Denzel if there have been any memorable roles he had been provided however declined. With a rueful look on his face, Denzel acknowledged:
“I turned down Se7en. They needed me to play the Brad Pitt [role]. I believed the script was too demonic. However then I noticed the film, and I used to be like ‘oh, I blew it.’ However, you recognize, it labored out all proper.”
For Denzel, the choice certainly labored out. Though he did not star in Se7en and has by no means labored with Fincher or Pitt since, Denzel went on to star in Tony Scott’s Crimson Tide and Carl Franklin’s Satan in a Blue Gown, each terrific motion pictures launched in 1995, the identical yr as Se7en. Staying within the crime style, Denzel received his second Oscar (following Glory) for his terrifying flip in Coaching Day seven years later.
However there is a scrumptious slice of irony right here that have to be addressed. Regardless of labeling Se7en as “too demonic” — whether or not he meant that actually or not — there’s nothing remotely supernatural in regards to the film, nor are there any precise demons within the story. Reduce three years forward to 1998, when Denzel starred in arguably probably the most underrated movie of his illustrious profession, the supernatural demonic thriller Fallen.
Co-starring John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, Elias Koteas, and others, Fallen stars Denzel as Philadelphia murder detective John Hobbes. The premise of the film issues a demonic entity that transfers its evil soul from human to human with the slightest bodily contact. Because the lethal demon continues to vary kinds and actual a killing spree, Hobbes finds his circle of relatives beneath menace and should cease the evil scourge earlier than it is too late.
The grand irony of Denzel turning down Se7en for being too demonic, solely to star in a really demonic thriller three years later, reinforces his remorse for passing on the Detective Mills function. Even so, Fallen deserves to be talked about alongside Se7en as a genuinely riveting ’90s crime thriller that Denzel needs to be pleased with and that followers ought to see instantly.
- Launch Date
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September 22, 1995
- Runtime
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127 minutes
- Writers
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Andrew Kevin Walker
- Producers
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Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle
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