The studio tried to change Seven's infamous ending. The big contract note Brad Pitt signed to avoid that

Sevendirected by David Fincheris one of them The best movies of the 1990s. A big part of the reason for that is Sevens iconic ending. It’s dark and twisted, just like the rest of the movie. But obviously, the film’s finale could have been significantly different and could have ended that way if it weren’t for Brad Pitt getting certain details about the script in his contract.

Friends and frequent collaborators Brad Pitt and George Clooney spoke with GQ recently and Pitt talked about the process of becoming a lead in movies, and how he started to take ownership of his projects. He reveals that after a previous bad experience, he made a point Seven making sure no one changed parts of the film he thought were important to the story, by actually doing Gwyneth Paltrow’s head-in-the-box part of his contract. Pitt explained…

What he’s talking about is the realization of how much of it is on your back. And then you say, ‘OK, that’s okay. But I will choose. When you realize you are responsible, you take the plunge and start calling. Like, I got my contract in when I did Seven, having had a bad experience on a movie before where they edited out scenes that I thought were vital, in Seven I put it in my contract: The wife’s head stays in the box.

Brad Pitt doesn’t mention the “movie before” that made him think this way, by name, but we know the movie was Legends of the Fallen. It was Pitt’s project right before Sevenand the film’s director Edward Zwick, published a book earlier this year in which he revealed he and Pitt constantly fought on the set of Legends. He specifically mentions a skirmish over scenes he cut from the film that Pitt was not in favor of removing. Zwick now agrees that Pitt was right.

seven’The ending is pretty dark, and while it fits the film as a whole, it’s certainly not in line with your average Hollywood film. George Clooney then asked Pitt if there were attempts to change the boxing scene, Pitt said that wasn’t the only thing they tried to change, but couldn’t because of his contract. He continued…

Absolutely. And the character kills John Doe. I got both in my contract. So of course, when the time comes, they come and they go, “You know, he’d be a lot more heroic if he didn’t.” And you say, ‘Yes, he would. But he isn’t. And then: ‘It’s too much with the wife. What if we put the dogs’ heads in? It should be the dogs’ heads. No.

Seven is one of many movies that almost had very different endings. It’s hard to imagine a version of Seven where John Doe kills a dog or one where Pitt’s character stops before he gets “angry”. The end of a movie is always what we think of when we leave it, and no matter how good the rest of it is Seven where, if the ending had faltered, the film probably wouldn’t be remembered so well today. So thanks Brad Pitt, I guess.

The studio tried to change Seven’s infamous ending. The big contract note Brad Pitt signed to avoid that

The studio tried to change Seven’s infamous ending. The big contract note Brad Pitt signed to avoid that