Seven: After 30 Years, Fincher Finally Reveals What Was Actually in the Box
In the iconic finale of Se7en, Brad Pitt's character David Mills receives a box containing his wife Tracy's head, though the contents are never shown on screen. This scene, featuring Morgan Freeman as Detective Somerset and Kevin Spacey as John Doe, culminates in Mills executing Doe in a fit of rage.
For 30 years, rumors circulated that director David Fincher used a prosthetic head modeled after Gwyneth Paltrow to elicit genuine reactions from the actors. Fincher has now definitively debunked this myth.
"No, it's entirely ridiculous," Fincher revealed to Entertainment Weekly. Instead, the box contained a seven- to eight-pound shot bag, carefully weighted to match the estimated mass of Paltrow's head based on her body mass index. They also included a bloodied wig to create authenticity when Morgan Freeman's character opened the box.
Fincher emphasizes that the power of the scene relies more on Freeman's performance than the box's contents: "You don't need to see what's in the box if you have Morgan Freeman."
Se7en returns to IMAX on January 3 for its 30th anniversary, followed by a 4K UHD Blu-ray release on January 7.