The podcast corpus
12,078 claims and 5,127 fun items from 206 episodes, about 7,690 films and 5,411 people, with 657 personality sketches. Search reads claims and fun items (SQLite full-text search).
106 lines
Showing 1–100 of 106 lines.
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industry (studio constraint vs. blank check):
The Killer → Seven.
Seven was a miracle that got made through micromanaging against odds, while Netflix gives the whole budget and spends the reward.
“there's something about a movie like 7 where it's like a miracle that it ever got made, not because he had a blank check in total control”
The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:00:46 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them) -
unmapped (emotional through-line):
The Killer → Seven.
Repressed emotion under the surface, as in Seven's gun-aiming shot of Brad Pitt, runs through Fincher's work including The Killer.
“think of the shot, um, in 7 when, uh, Brad Pitt is aiming the gun at John Doe”
The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:09:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
Seven → The Conjuring 2.
Both give Chris the chest-tightening dread he wants, though Seven is a thriller.
“I can remember that experience they are describing of seeing that movie and kind of like my arms tightening against my chest”
The Big Picture · The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade | The Big Picture · 0:12:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
people (shared writer):
Seven → The Killer.
Andrew Kevin Walker had no proper screenwriting credit on a Fincher film since Se7en.
“he had not gotten a proper screenwriting credit on any of his films since seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:14:21 · David Sims (0.55 sure it was them) -
unmapped (why Fincher was offered it):
Seven → Zodiac.
Seven made Fincher the first choice for any serial-killer project, Zodiac included.
“Ever since he makes seven, if there's some serial killer movie, is getting sent it”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:51:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → Zodiac.
Zodiac is called the anti-Seven: killers made dorky, not glamorous.
“It is it is really the anti-seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:31:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (cited influence):
All That Jazz → Seven.
A host recalls a Fincher film the show covered where he cited All That Jazz as an inspiration for the look, maybe Seven.
“where he cited how much of an inspiration all that jazz was for him for the look of the movie?”
Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:13:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
people (shared actor):
Bad Girl (Madonna video) → Seven.
An actor in Bad Girl is in Seven.
“Yeah, he's in seven. 7 episode, Griff.”
Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:47:09 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (same grade (joke)):
Judith (A Perfect Circle video) → Seven.
A host jokes Fincher handed the video to his team with the Seven preset and a bleach bypass.
“Give it the old 7 preset number two.”
Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 2:09:08 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
craft (camera operator):
Conrad W. Hall → Seven.
The replacement DP had been a camera operator on Seven and Fight Club.
“He been a camera operator on uh 7 in Fight Club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 1:33:04 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (screenwriter):
Andrew Kevin Walker → Seven.
Walker is named as the writer of Seven.
“Andrew Kevin Walker, the writer of seven, plays the sleepy neighbor.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 2:13:46 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
career (Fincher filmography order):
Seven → The Game.
Alex long believed the order was Seven then Fight Club, not realizing The Game came between.
“I always was like, it must go 7 and then Fight Club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:56:09 · Alex Ross Perry (0.55 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → Fight Club.
Seven was fucked up in a way entirely different from Fight Club, yet studios treated Fincher as the fucked-up guy.
“it's fucked up in a way that's entirely different from this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:58:26 · Alex Ross Perry (0.45 sure it was them) -
people (cast):
Kevin Spacey → Seven.
Spacey is the only Fincher movie lead he's in, per the host.
“that's the only Fincher movie he's in, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:05:44 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (sibling Fincher films):
Seven → The Game.
Hosts argue over whether The Game is better than, or as good as, Se7en.
“I think this movie is not seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:08:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (R-rated proof):
Seven → The Game.
Se7en's hit status as an R-rated film convinced the backers to fund The Game.
“I think convinced, um, people like, okay, like, you can make an R-rated movie a hit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:33:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (rip-off):
8mm → Seven.
Calls 8mm Schumacher ripping off Se7en.
“8 millimeter is Schumacher ripping off seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:41:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (star power):
Brad Pitt → Seven.
Pitt's wish to make Se7en bumped it ahead of The Game.
“Brad Pitt's like, I want to make seven, and so seven like happens, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:28 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (commercial lead-in):
Seven → The Game.
Se7en's success gave Fincher an absurd budget for The Game.
“this is better for me because now I can make this movie at an absurd budget.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:47:35 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (release strategy):
Seven → Kiss the Girls.
Se7en was a September release sold as a nasty genre movie, like Kiss the Girls and later Freeman thrillers.
“in the same vein in terms of its release strategy is like, Kiss the girls.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:25:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them) -
career (career sequence):
Alien 3 → Seven.
After Alien 3, Fincher didn't want to make another movie and told reps not to send scripts, which is why Mank was all he was reading.
“Well, he also had the attitude post-alien 3 of like, I never want to make a movie again.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:32:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
Fincher was sent the unsanitized script with the head in the box instead of the softened draft, and insisted on it.
“They had sent him the unsanitized version and they meant to send him the no head version.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:36:34 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
Fincher's argument for the head in the box: the kids-in-a-schoolyard test.
“imagine a couple kids in a schoolyard 20 years from now being like, have you ever seen this fucked up movie that ends with a woman's head in a box?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:37:42 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (studio-ending era):
Seven → The Scarlet Letter.
In the era of grafted happy endings like The Scarlet Letter, Se7en's bleak ending is amazing for a studio film.
“Like they like they like put in a happy ending.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:38:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
people (casting method):
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo → Seven.
Fincher's quote on Dragon Tattoo casting (find the essential quality that survives 100 takes) is applied to why Pitt works as Mills.
“I think the thing you want to find when you're casting your leads and casting your movie stars is like the essential quality they have in their being that no matter what is going to come through on camera”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:40:41 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (star leverage):
The Shawshank Redemption → Seven.
Freeman reportedly took Se7en because Shawshank showed he could carry the story.
“the fact that Shawshank, I was narrating and I got to carry the story.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:45:37 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (buddy-cop worry):
Seven → Lethal Weapon.
Studio saw an older Black detective and a young white one and worried it would read as Lethal Weapon.
“this people are just going to think it's lethal weapon”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:49:32 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (early seed):
Seven → Zodiac.
Fincher wanted Ned Beatty for John Doe because he looked like the Zodiac composite, showing Zodiac was on his mind early.
“So that's how early he's thinking about zodiac.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:51:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (unnamed city):
Seven → Blade Runner.
Se7en's rainy, never-named city is likened to Blade Runner's.
“It's like it's like Blade Runner.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:58:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (borrowing):
Seven → Saw (film series).
Rewatching the Saw movies, the speaker was struck by how much they lifted from Se7en.
“I forgot how much saw stole.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:59:00 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
Rewatch fact: the sloth victim's license says he was born in 1931.
“you see that the sloth victim was born in 1931, did you notice this?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 0:59:32 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (schedule squeeze):
12 Monkeys → Seven.
Pitt pre-committed to 12 Monkeys, which forced a rocket-speed Se7en shoot.
“Pitt had pre-committed to 12 monkeys.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:02:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
career (career lever):
Seven → Fight Club.
Se7en's success is what let Fincher make the seemingly impossible Fight Club.
“But the fight club is him more being like, okay, guys, I know this seems impossible, but I made seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:05:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
Somerset goes to sleep with a metronome and loses it at the end.
“And I go to sleep with a fucking metronome.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:09:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
The gluttony actor was 380 pounds and was padded with prosthetics toward 700.
“but he said he was 380 on set and they added £300 visually.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:16:42 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
The gluttony victim was covered in real cockroaches.
“They covered him in real cockroaches.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:16:53 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
The killer changed the screws on the painting so it would hang the right way up.
“changed the screws so that it would hang up in the, in the correct way.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:27:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (borrowing):
Seven → The Batman.
The speaker had forgotten how indebted The Batman is to Fincher, mostly to Se7en.
“I had forgotten just how indebted the Batman is to...”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:28:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
theme (detective comparison):
The Batman → Seven.
The Riddler is a bad serial killer next to John Doe; Batman a worse detective than Mills and Somerset.
“the Riddler is a bad serial killer in the Batman.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:30:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (reaction gag):
Seven → Alien (chestburster).
The sloth reveal is likened to the Alien chestburster because the actor wasn't warned.
“we got a true alien of alien chess burster moment.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:32:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
people (shared actor):
Seven → The Usual Suspects.
Kevin Spacey is the scariest person in both worlds in the same breakout year.
“in both 7 and the usual suspects, in the worlds of those movies, he's the worst, scariest person.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:03:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (restraint vs explicitness):
Seven → Law & Order: SVU (TV).
Reading a 2009 Fincher interview: Se7en keeps the horror offscreen, unlike SVU's graphic dialogue.
“Now you watch Law and Order SVU, and they're walking in a hallways and they say, we found semen in the eye socket.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:13:07 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (genre influence):
Seven → later crime thrillers and crime TV (unnamed).
As an adult the speaker is less shocked by Se7en because everyone since took a page out of its book.
“I'm not as shocked by 7 because everyone took a page out of its book, of course.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:15:39 · Mike Mitchell (0.50 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → Zodiac.
The speaker prefers Zodiac's derivative, dumb real killer to Se7en's super-villain John Doe.
“What I like about Zodiac is that it shows serial killers as we know them to actual actually be”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:16:36 · Nick Wiger (0.60 sure it was them) -
unmapped (prop rumor):
Seven → Contagion.
An internet rumor says Contagion's autopsy reused the head made for Se7en.
“they were like, well, it was easy for them to do that because they had the leftover head from seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:26:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
career (career pivot):
Legends of the Fall → Seven.
Pitt reportedly wanted a movie like Se7en to disrupt his heartthrob image.
“I need to do a movie like 7 to disrupt that image”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:27:30 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (parody):
Seven → MTV Movie Awards Se7en parody.
The MTV Movie Awards parodied the Se7en ending with William Shatner playing every role and the head in the box.
“And then Shatner's head is in the box and then he sings a song.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:34:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
The MTV Movie Awards parody ends with William Shatner's head in the box.
“And then Shatner's head is in the box and then he sings a song.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:34:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (sequel repurposing attempt):
Seven → Eight Millimeter.
New Line tried to repurpose Walker's 8MM script as a Se7en follow-up with Morgan Freeman as Somerset; it was made later as a stand-alone movie.
“But they initially wanted to try and repurpose that and have Morgan Freeman be in that movie as Somerset.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:35:45 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (sequel rewrite attempt):
Solace → Seven.
New Line bought Solace and asked for a rewrite into a Se7en sequel; all three leads refused.
“can we rewrite this to make it into a 7 sequel”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:36:46 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (reading the dossier) (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (visual inspiration):
Klute → Seven.
The speaker watched Klute because Fincher and DP Darius Khondji cited it as an inspiration for Se7en's dark look and flashlight-led framing.
“I watched Clute over the weekend because I know that both Fincher and Darius Conji, the DP, had cited that as an inspiration”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:38:58 · Nick Wiger or Mike Mitchell (unresolved) (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (tonal kin):
The Game → Seven.
The Game and Panic Room feel like movies chasing Se7en.
“the game and panic room, feel like movies that are kind of chasing seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:41:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Seven:
On the podcast Ben shows up in a wig with a box and a note signed John Doe, and a Gwyneth Paltrow figure.
“surprisingly hard to find a Gwyneth Paltrow action figure.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:43:53 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (opening-weekend rival):
Seven → Showgirls.
Showgirls opened against Se7en; the speakers joke about which has the bleaker view of humanity.
“Which film has a bleaker view of humanity?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:47:19 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them) -
people (casting contrast):
Seven → To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Everyone fought to be in Wong Foo while everyone refused Se7en.
“the opposite of, um, of fucking 7 where they offered it to everyone”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 2:48:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Jane Campion → Seven.
Campion pitched the film to Weinstein as something like Seven, and says now it was not a great comparison.
“She compares it to seven with him.”
Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:25:38 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
In the Cut → Seven.
Despite its star, the film keeps a Se7en-like visual style.
“Because the movie still does have vaguely 7-S aesthetics.”
Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:29:59 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
In the Cut → Seven.
The opening glimpse of the bar murder is shot like the dead-body reveals in Seven.
“But this is shot like anytime they show up and see the new dead body in seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:44:06 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Panic Room → Seven.
Se7en and Fight Club hide twists from the audience; Panic Room is real time with no withheld information.
“Like 7 and Fight Club, there are these huge twists at the center of these movies that are withheld from the audience.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:42:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Conrad Hall → Seven.
Hall is the guy who shot Se7en.
“this is the guy who shot seven, you know, is one of the most accomplished cinematographers”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:20:37 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them) -
people (people):
Andrew Kevin Walker → Seven.
The Panic Room neighbor actor is the writer of Se7en.
“And did you know that the guy who plays the neighbor is Andrew Kevin Walker, a guy who wrote seven?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:32:43 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
Seven → Heat.
Grouped with Usual Suspects, Heat and Casino as the four defining 1995 movies, three of which were shut out at the Oscars.
“Our usual suspects, which we recently did, Heat Casino in seven.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:04:37 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → The Usual Suspects.
Both were hugely influential 1995 genre movies that the Oscars largely ignored; Usual Suspects got a screenplay win while Se7en got only editing.
“Usual suspects had space to get nominated for best supporting actor, and it got nominated for best original screenplay.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:04:51 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Darius Khondji → Seven.
Sean says the Oscars could easily have nominated Darius Khondji for best cinematography on Se7en.
“You could very easily make the case for best director, for best screenplay, and Darius Conji for best cinematography.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:06:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → Dead Man Walking.
Those movies felt like Oscar movies while bare-knuckle genre movies made by artists did not get recognized.
“They're bare knuckle genre movies that are done by artists and those weren't really getting recognized as much back then, I don't think.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:07:00 · Chris Ryan (0.55 sure it was them) -
industry (industry):
Seven → The Usual Suspects.
Spacey went uncredited in Se7en and the earlier-released Usual Suspects built momentum; two twists may have been too much for the Academy.
“I wonder if 2 super duper, incredibly memorable twists, a quarter of a century later, uh, was too many for the academy to handle”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:08:06 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Kevin Spacey → Seven.
Spacey's billing choice (uncredited) kept the twist secret in a pre-internet era, which fed a slow-building box office.
“And it was a great move by Spacey not to be credited.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:08:19 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Seven → Alien 3.
Fincher's miserable Alien 3 experience made him swear off features; the Se7en script pulled him back.
“it was only because he loved the script so much, the 7 script that he ultimately decided to do this movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:11:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
Seven → Alfred Hitchcock.
Se7en is a Hitchcock movie in its pulling-your-chain structure of mystery, reveal and anxiety, and Hitchcock is Fincher's biggest influence.
“I think as much as this seems like a modern movie, it's also just completely a Hitchcock movie in so many ways.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:14:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
Seven → True Detective.
Se7en's influence shows in True Detective from the title sequence to the characters, though True Detective's first season flinches at the dark ending.
“you can see the influence of of 7 on things like True Detective from the title sequence to the characters.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:15:19 · Chris Ryan (0.55 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
Seven → William Friedkin.
Fincher drew from Friedkin and wanted it to feel like an episode of Cops.
“he's drawn from like Friedkin, but he's also, he's, he's referenced like how he wanted it to feel like an episode of cops.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:15:42 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → Alfred Hitchcock.
A host says Se7en's score feels very Hitchcock, a comparison of sound rather than a claim of derivation.
“but the score feels very Hitchcock.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:15:50 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
Seven → The Shawshank Redemption.
Both are movies you get sucked into on cable by the last 40 minutes.
“The same thing with Shawshank.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:17:05 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → Zodiac.
Both have a patient first hour of procedural foreplay where you pick up new details on each rewatch.
“isn't isn't that why we all like zodiac for the, like a lot of that 1st hour is the same thing where it's all foreplay”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:18:38 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Seven → The Sopranos.
Fincher's planned fade to black would have resembled the Sopranos cut to black, which Bill came around on after years.
“I think I would have eventually felt the same way I do about the Sopranos ending where I actually like the Sopranos ending now.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:22:14 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them) -
verdict (verdict):
Seven → Casino.
Casino was a near miss against Goodfellas, framed as 98 out of 100 versus 100 out of 100, the same tier of 1995 hall-of-famer.
“It's like a 98 out of 100 compared to Goodfellows 100 out of 100, you know?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:23:47 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
Seven → Sherlock Holmes.
Se7en works as a Sherlock Holmes story in which the Watson figure, Mills, is a fool who hits the ceiling of his intelligence.
“here's this is a Sherlock Holmes movie in which Watson is a fucking idiot.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:25:24 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → Burn After Reading.
Pitt's comic-idiot characters in Burn After Reading and Killing Them Softly echo Mills, though more mature.
“those characters are just supposed to be kind of funny.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:29:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
Seven → Lethal Weapon.
Mills plays the reckless young cop with Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon energy.
“he's playing that like Mel Gibson and lethal weapon energy”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:29:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
industry (industry):
Seven → New Line Cinema.
Se7en was New Line's first A production and turned it into a power player after the Freddy Krueger era.
“this was the home of Freddy Krueger, you know, I mean, that's really the kinds of movies that they were making”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:35:25 · Chris Ryan (0.55 sure it was them) -
verdict (verdict):
Seven → Roger Ebert.
Ebert gave 3.5 stars, then republished a four-star review years later, which becomes the show's running Ebert gag.
“He did the fucking redo?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:36:04 · Bill Simmons (0.55 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Seven → Al Pacino.
Bill and Chris float Pacino in the John Doe role and note he was supposed to be Somerset.
“Well, Pacino was supposed to be Somerset, wasn't he?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:43:31 · Bill Simmons (0.45 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Will Patton → Seven.
Will Patton, warm or devious, could have played John Doe, though Spacey's fame made the reveal more shocking.
“who I think could have been good at this is Will Patton.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:46:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Billy Bob Thornton → Seven.
Billy Bob Thornton is added as another possible John Doe.
“Billy Bob Thornton.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:47:26 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
Seven → Dante.
John Doe is the ferryman to hell in an unnamed rain-soaked city that Walker basically wrote as hell.
“he basically just wrote hell, you know, like he didn't name the city for a reason”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:50:09 · Chris Ryan (0.55 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → The Silence of the Lambs.
Both belong to the era of thrillers where the killer is found by cracking a word code or a weird clue.
“There's also that vibe of a lot of some other thrillers from this time period.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:50:30 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
Seven → Nine Inch Nails.
Se7en caught industrial rock at its peak and led to Fincher-Reznor scores.
“Fincher and Rezner go on to make this incredible partnership”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:55:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → Zodiac.
Zodiac similarly does not show most of its murders.
“It's very similar to zodiac in that way, too.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:58:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
Seven → The Silence of the Lambs.
Both keep the murders off screen and are not about exploiting violence.
“And silence of the lambs is pretty similar.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:58:21 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
Seven → The Shining.
Se7en, Zodiac, The Shining, Silence of the Lambs form a separate breed, nicknamed Oscar horror.
“It's almost like Oscar horror, I guess, would be the category.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:59:03 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Denzel Washington → Seven.
Denzel turned down the Mills part, calling it too dark and evil, and later regretted it.
“Told Entertainment Weekly, the film was, quote, too dark and evil.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:00:25 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Sylvester Stallone → Seven.
Stallone reportedly turned down Mills, post-Tango and Cash, hunting for a dramatic movie that turned out to be Copland; Sly would have derailed it.
“Sly in this movie derails it.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:00:38 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Robert Duvall → Seven.
Duvall and Hackman both reportedly turned down Somerset.
“Duval and Gene Hackman both turned down the part of Somerset, apparently, allegedly.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:01:21 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Val Kilmer → Seven.
Val Kilmer was another John Doe candidate; they wish they had a filmed car ride of it.
“It would have been fucking awesome.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:01:56 · Bill Simmons (0.45 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
Guillermo del Toro → Seven.
Del Toro allegedly turned down directing as too dark; the hosts doubt it.
“I don't know if I believe that one.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:02:47 · Bill Simmons (0.45 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Seven → Gwyneth Paltrow.
Se7en was her first major movie, after Fincher saw her in Flesh and Bone.
“this was the movie that kind of made her a star”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:06:20 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
what-if (what-if):
River Phoenix → Seven.
River Phoenix, had he lived, could have been Mills.
“One guy I thought of was River Phoenix for the Brad Pitt part”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:07:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (industry):
Seven → Training Day.
The diner where Somerset meets Tracy is the same Quality Coffee Shop used in Training Day.
“It is the quality coffee shop in downtown LA.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:00 · Bill Simmons (0.55 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → Fight Club.
Fincher's cigarette burn shot in Fight Club is compared to the half-second Gwyneth shot in Se7en.
“I always think of Gwyneth as like a cigarette burn a little bit.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:28 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
verdict (verdict):
Seven → Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Apex Mountain for Freeman: Bill asks if the moment before Robin Hood is his apex.
“Would you guys argue that the moment before Robin Hood comes out as his apex mountain?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:10:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them)