How a Clerical Error Saved 'Se7en' Its Iconic Twist Ending

It would be really hard to pick my favorite movie of the '90s, but I guarantee you Seven would be in the conversation.

The 1995 thriller is widely regarded as a contemporary classic, and it's cemented in cinematic history by one of the most chilling and nihilistic endings of all time.

I mean, the ending of Seven is something we have talked about on this site many, many times, and it still needs to be dissected even more.

However, as revealed in the recent Nerdstalgic video, the iconic "head in the box" finale was almost erased from history, but only made it to the big screen thanks to one very important clerical error.

Let's dive in.

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A Director at a Crossroads

To start, let's give you a little backstory. In the early '90s, David Fincher was at a professional low point.

The guy was known as a visionary in the music video and commercial world, but Alien 3 had been a "debacle" that hurt his chances of working with other studios on more movies.

His reputation was at stake, and he was lucky to get to sign onto the Andrew Kevin Walker script that was floating around town.

The Pivotal Mistake

Fincher was sent a script by his agent and immediately devoured the dark tale of two detectives and the Seven Deadly Sins.

But there was one plot twist he didn't expect.

The script Fincher received was the wrong draft.

Walker had previously been forced to write several alternate, "safer" endings by a previous director who found the original climax too nihilistic.

So, it was by pure accident that Fincher was sent the original, unsterilized draft containing the shocking twist involving Detective Mills' wife's head in a damn box.

Well, that was the ending Fincher read and loved. He was immediately captivated and knew he had to make this movie next. It was going to be his redemption.

The Battle for the Box

Of course, it's not a David Fincher movie without there being a battle.

Even with Fincher on board, the fight to keep the ending against studio executives who feared a "downer" would destroy the film's word-of-mouth was severe.

They had a few ideas to change the script to make it..."better."

• The "Dead Dog" Ending: In an attempt to lower the stakes, producers suggested that instead of Tracy’s head, the box would contain the head of the detectives' dog.
• The Heroic Intervention: Another version saw Detective Somerset shooting the killer, John Doe, effectively robbing Mills of his tragic choice and undermining the film's exploration of "Wrath".

Protecting the Head

Look, you can't convince Fincher of anything he does not want to do. He understood that the ending was powerful, and it needed to show that John Doe kind of won.

He used what little clout he had left in Hollywood to make the movie his way. And that way became a film that will be talked about forever.

Fincher bet on himself, and he also bet on there being an audience that wanted this kind of sophisticated storytelling.

And he was right.

Summing It All Up

Seven proves that the creative process can be fragile and fickle. You're always wrestling with art, commerce, and predicting what will gather an audience.

Fincher getting sent the wrong draft will go down in history as a happy mishap, because it got him to shake out of the shell of the Alien movies and find what he loved about storytelling again.

And it got us the bleak ending that the movie deserved.

Let me know what you think in the comments.