The real reason Denzel Washington didn’t star in David Fincher’s Se7en

When Denzel Washington was approached to star in “Se7en,” David Fincher wasn’t yet confirmed as director — not that it would have helped sway the actor. At the time, Fincher’s only major Hollywood feature was “Alien 3”, which, by all accounts, was a nightmare to shoot and ultimately disappointed the critics. Apart from that, he only directed music videos. That doesn’t exactly sound like the kind of resume that would convince Denzel, especially since the script itself for “Se7en” was a major problem.

When asked by Jamie Foxx (for Trilist) back in 2018, despite having previously turned down a movie he was supposed to agree to, Washington called Se7en and said, “They wanted me to play Brad Pitt. I thought the script was too demonic. Then I saw the movie, I was like, “Oh, I blew it.”

To be fair, Denzel did watch the version of the movie that New Line wanted to show to the public. Fincher originally wanted to ditch William Somerset’s final line about the world being “worth saving” and cut to black after David Mills shoots John Doe. If this was the version of the script Denzel saw, you can’t blame him for calling it “demonic.” It’s also an interesting descriptor because it hints at the faith the actor often brings to his roles, writing the ominous biblical phrase from Romans 6:23 into his script for Training Day. Obviously, an actor’s understanding of theology significantly influences when he reads scripts and considers projects.

However, as “demonic” as the “Se7en” script seemed, Denzel has since seemed to regret his decision to pass on the film. The actor spoke with CTV Newssaying it was a “mistake” to turn down the role of Mills, adding: “I was like, ‘Man, this is just too much.’ Then I saw it and thought, “Oh my God.” However, the actor seemed confident that in the end Brad Pitt was the right man for the job, saying, “Obviously it wasn’t for me, it was for Brad all along.” And Washington himself eventually played the detective, who hunts down a demonic assassin when he starred in the the 1998 horror film The Fall.

It’s interesting to think about how Denzel’s career would have turned out if he had starred in Fincher’s crime thriller. However, I’m very happy to live in the time with the versions of “Se7en” and “Training Day” that we know and love.