Brad Pitt mostly had romantic roles in fantasy movies until the role of David Mills in Se7en came along. The David Fincher film established him as an A-lister in Hollywood and he went on to act in the projects of legendary filmmakers. One moment from David Fincher’s intense serial killer film would make any fan laugh out loud after knowing its behind-the-scene story.
During the scene where Pitt and Morgan Freeman’s characters investigate the sloth victim’s crime scene, the dead body coughs startling everyone present. Interestingly, Fincher planned the whole scene without telling the actors to capture their genuine reactions.
Brad Pitt’s Reaction to a Corpse Coming Alive in David Fincher’s Se7en Is Real
In David Fincher‘s Se7en, Morgan Freeman‘s William Somerset and Brad Pitt’s David Mills try to stop a serial killer who commits murders based on the seven deadly sins. The film went on to become a surprise hit with the performances gaining significant praise from critics. It seems that Fincher also helped in bringing out the best performances… but in a sneaky manner.
One behind-the-scenes story from the set revealed how Fincher pranked his cast to get their genuine reactions. In the film, Mills and Somerset find their third victim, a drug dealer, emaciated and restrained to a bed. The crime scene is marked with “sloth” this time, one of the seven deadly sins.
As the two detectives and the SWAT team examine the crime scene, the dead body coughs and startles everyone. It was a chilling moment for the viewers, but little did they know that it freaked out the actors on set as well. Instagram user @imallentsai shared:
Director David Fincher didn’t tell the SWAT team that the “sloth” corpse is actually an actor. So when it coughs, everyone freaks out — and David captures their genuine reactions.
Fans could not help but appreciate how Fincher pranked the entire cast on set with a real person acting as a corpse. Fans also wondered why everyone’s next reaction was to pull a prop gun on the corpse. Brad Pitt seemed truly terrified in the scene with a “Holy Sh*t” expression on his face. Some of the fan reactions read:
He used 1000 percent of his brain 😂
alvooh_pre.tends
Fincher: yo, you know what would be funny?
angellbonilla
That’s alright. But I wasnt expecting to be told this by a corpse.
mr.nicecat
So they actually pulled their prop guns and shotguns to shoot?!
kayali.nader
Just another day at David Fincher’s Movie Set🙌
iampraveengiri_
Interestingly, Se7en helped to revive David Fincher’s career after his debut directorial film Alien 3 ended up as a disaster. He disowned the earlier film sharing that he faced studio interference and was subjected to unrealistic deadlines. In that sense, Se7en can be considered as his first proper film with full artistic control.
David Fincher Almost Directed Blade Before He Left It For Se7en
Wesley Snipes‘ Blade almost became David Fincher’s comeback film. According to writer David S. Goyer, Fincher had originally worked with him to realize the Blade project. They even prepared a draft together and had a meeting with the producer.
During the meeting, Fincher showed them a detailed presentation of how the movie, its aesthetics, and its characters would be developed. Goyer shared that it was a fully fleshed-out visual pitch, many of which influenced Goyer’s later versions of the Blade script. He shared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
Fincher laid out 40 to 50 books of photography and art with post-it notes inside them. He said, ‘This is the movie.’ He took us on a two-hour tour around the table of the aesthetics of this scene, that character. It was such a fully fleshed out visual pitch… I had never seen something like that before. A lot of that thinking infused my further revisions.
However, Snipes’ film had several production issues which eventually drove away Fincher. The Fight Club director turned his attention to Se7en instead, a film he had been developing simultaneously.
Se7en is now available for rent on AppleTV+.
