“Seven” at thirty years old, David Fincher tells what was really “in the box”

David Fincher’s cult film released in 1995 is being re-released in the United States in a high-resolution restored version for the Imax screen, on the occasion of its anniversary. The director discussed details of the filming on this occasion.

Seven is one of the cult and popular films whose fans become enthusiastic about the statement of a very specific question. “Was there room for Jack?” » Oh no, sorry, this is about Titanic. For David Fincher’s film, the key phrase has long been « What’s in the box ? » In any case, you must have seen the entire film to continue addressing this question and read this article, unless you do not fear spoilers.

Reminder of the facts: after a film whose scenes took place entirely in the rain and in the dark (“watery thriller”wrote Telerama in his review), the investigators played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman find themselves in the desert with the serial killer played by Kevin Spacey. The psychopath has already staged five murders which punish five deadly sins and he has two left to perpetrate: envy and anger. A delivery man then leaves a package addressed to Brad Pitt’s character in the middle of this nowhere. “What’s in the package?” »he asks as Morgan Freeman discovers with horror the contents of the blood-stained box. The psychopath begins to tell the young cop about this marital happiness that he envies, to talk about this loving and pregnant woman played by Gwyneth Paltrow. « What’s in the box ? »the cop asks his partner again, his eyes crazy. This box contains horror, Morgan Freeman’s reaction said it all. We do not see the slightest hair, but everything indicates that it is the head of the young wife. The angry act of the final murder is then carried out by Brad Pitt. He kills Kevin Spacey. The seven deadly sins are punished, the killer has won. (To watch the scene again, click here.)

The “box” has been the subject of much fantasy among film lovers. Rumor had it that it contained a prosthetic head of Gwyneth Paltrow, which was even reused in a Steven Soderbergh film (Contagion) (“Totally ridiculous”answers David Fincher). In 2011, Entertainment Weekly asks Brad Pitt about it, and he says that the scene was an important issue for him. “ With SevenI said: ‘I will do it on one condition: the head stays in the box. Put in the contract that the head stays in the box.’ In fact, there was also a second condition: ‘He must shoot the killer at the end. He doesn’t do what’s ‘right’, he does it out of passion.’ Both of these things are in the contract. »

For the thirty years of the film in 2025, and its restoration by the director himself with a theatrical release in the United States, Entertainment Weekly did not miss the opportunity to renew his favorite question: what’s really in the box? What was really in the box? “A bag of lead and a wig”answers David Fincher. The team had calculated the approximate weight of the actress’ head, using proportions, and added to the box a bag filled with lead balls which is usually used to stabilize filming equipment. “As I remember, Morgan opened 16 or 17 of these boxes”remembers the filmmaker, who underlines: “We don’t need to see what’s in the box if we have Morgan Freeman. »