Written by Tyrone Bruinsma GRIZZLY DETECTIVE THRILLERS In the 1940’s and 50’s, a genre had emerged in America that would not be classified or appreciated until years later-Noir. Classified by French film scholars-Noir was the genre of gritty, pulpy crime films shot in black and white. Many classics are included in this genre-The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Strangers on a Train, Double Indemnity, Touch of Evil, The Third Man and Kiss Me Deadly. At the time, these films were considered cheap B-Movie material. Black and white film stock was far cheaper to shoot on than color compared to films like Gone with the Wind or Wizard of Oz. To compensate for the low budget film stock, many directors employed style over pure realism or big budget spectacle. In that space of abstraction, the morally grey plots and ability to be darker-many noir films set the standard for gritty thrillers. The genre in my mind died in 1958 when Alfred Hitchcock directed the color-noir Vertigo and changed how the genre could be seen. With noir dead, neo noir was born. While utilizing much of the same ideas, themes, plots and visual style-neo noir films were allowed to expand and experiment. The genre brought us classics like Chinatown, Blade Runner, Mulholland Drive, Nightcrawler and Heat. But one of the darkest entries in the neo noir genre would come to us from a writer named Andrew Kevin Walker. ANDREW KEVIN WALKER While working at Tower Records, Andrew Kevin Walker finished the screenplay for what would become Seven in 1991. Through help via screenwriter David Koepp, New Line Cinema purchased the script. While director Jeremiah S. Chechik of Christmas Vacation was originally supposed to direct and even Guillermo Del Toro fresh off Cronos was offered the director’s chair too-neither cared for the script. David Fincher, having crawled out of the production nightmare Alien 3 with no passion for film, was sent the original script and loved it. This was a problem for New Line as they wanted the script changed. But Walker, Fincher and the eventually hired cast all demanded the script stay intact. While Seven was being made, Walker wrote other films like the sci-fi horror flicks Brainscan and Hideaway. Walker even wrote unproduced scripts for a Silver Surfer film and X-Men movie. He even wrote the screenplay for a Batman V Superman film in 2002 that would’ve been directed by Wolfgang Petersen of Air Force One. While both writer and director pushed for the film after it was shelved, Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman permanently shelved Walker’s script. After the resounding success of Seven, Walker then became a reliable script doctor in the 90s. For context, a script doctor is a writer who modifies or improves scripts without necessarily changing the fundamentals. It’s an important part of the industry and many valued creators work in that field. For example, Frank Darabont: writer and director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist was a script doctor on Saving Private Ryan and the 2014 Godzilla film. Walker’s script doctor work included David Fincher’s The Game and Fight Club, as well as Event Horizon. As for the other scripts Walker wrote, they all suffered creative and studio interference. His numerical follow to Seven, 8mm was a noir thriller about the urban legend of snuff films. However, Walker’s truly disturbing screenplay was softened by director Joel Schumacher. Even with those changes, I think the film effectively fits the tone of Seven and is extremely disturbing. Released the same year as 8mm was Sleepy Hollow. This film was originally the passion project of effects designer Kevin Yagher after disowning the production nightmare Hellraiser: Bloodline. Yagher was originally supposed to direct, but Tim Burton took the job after leaving another production nightmare in Superman: Lives. While Burton appreciated Walker’s script, he brought in Tom Stoppard of Shakespeare in Love to tone down the violence. Sleepy Hollow still managed to be super violent movie and one of the best films of the year. After failing to have his superhero films greenlit, Walker’s last major film was 2010’s The Wolfman. A passion project of actor Benicio Del Toro, director Mark Romanek of One Hour Photo was the original director. However, due to budgetary concerns-Romanek was replaced with Joe Johnston of Jumanji and Jurassic Park 3. Johnston hired David Self of Road to Perdition to rewrite Walker’s originally intact script and ironically-the budget grew to over $150 Million. The budget increase was likely due to Johnston wanting to use more CGI over practical effects. Audiences and critics rejected the film alike. What’s strange is how Walker’s distinct dark style is what made him popular…but studios and filmmakers were constantly pushing to remove that darkness. It ultimately leaves Seven as his truest work. SEVEN Going into Seven itself, it’s a simple story. Two detectives played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt try to track down a serial killer. The killer’s MO is targets victims “guilty” of the 7 deadly sins. The ultimate finale however is what iconified the film. After being brought into the middle of nowhere by Kevin Spacey’s John Doe, a box containing the wife of Brad Pitt’s detective Mills is delivered. Mills kills Doe and the story ends on a truly haunting note. The story deals with themes of post-modern decay, social apathy, religious theology and nihilism vs optimism. Like I said, it’s a simple story. But the ideas, excellent performances, magnificent direction and truly creepy atmosphere and scenes make it all perfect. The film was acclaimed upon released and was the 7th Highest grossing film of 1995, no joke. It’s surprising for a film with such a nasty and bleak tone to be that successful. The only other dark films that achieved the same feat were Silence of the Lambs, Basic Instinct, Hannibal, Passion of the Christ and 2019’s Joker. With such a successful film, you’d believe a sequel would’ve been made…and one almost was. EI8HT In 2000, Ted Griffin and Sean Bailey wrote a possible sequel to Seven. Ted Griffin was the writer on films like Ravenous, Ocean’s Eleven and Matchstick Men. Sean Bailey meanwhile would become president of production at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production in 2010 and still holds that position. While written as an original film, New Line Cinema acquired it and attempted to make it a sequel to Seven. The script they wrote was titled Eight, but with the number 8 in place of the G. The script followed a retired Summerset with psychic powers returning to duty to solve another string of murders. That premise alone was what made the production shaky. David Fincher flatly rejected the idea, which caused the script to be changed back into an original story. This isn’t an unheard-of process in Hollywood. The 1992 movie Doctor Mordrid was originally going to be a Doctor Strange adaptation, but the rights had expired by the time filming could commence. Many potential sequels, prequels, spin-offs and more get made into original films or versa-visa. The question is, would this have been a good Seven sequel? SOLACE
Released in 2015 as Solace, the film has Anthony Hopkins play what would’ve been Morgan Freeman’s character. Hopkins plays John Clancy, a man with psychic abilities who retired from helping police after the death of his daughter. He’s brought back by a string of unusual murders that ultimately face him against another psychically powered human. The ultimate reveal is the killer is targeting those who will die painful deaths and is “freeing” them. The question eventually becomes whether or not we play God with people’s lives. The film features a fairly strong cast including Colin Farrell as the eventual psychic killer, Abbie Cornish from Sucker Punch as a rookie detective and James Dean Morgan as Clancy’s cop best friend. The cast does solid work and the story isn’t bad, but it’s the filmmaking that’s easily the most interesting. While the colour pallet and grade aren’t super interesting, the representation of psychic visions and the few uses of a motion-controlled camera are good. The ultimate problem is that it lacks a super dark tone or ultra-disturbing sequence. Most of it is pure dialogue, well written and performed-but often very little action or investigation. It ends up just being a watchable film, but how would it have served as a sequel to Seven. Let’s execute a little thought experiment. Let’s say David Fincher rejected the script, but New Line Cinema looked for a director to suit and it’s 2002. Lee Tamahori had just done Along Came a Spider, but he would’ve been busy with Die Another Day or xXx 2. Joel Schumacher had so many passion projects at that time so he’d be unavailable. Darren Aronofsky from Requiem for a Dream would be good, but he was still developing his eventually cancelled Batman: Year One. Gore Verbinski had just done The Ring, but was instantly working on Pirates of the Caribbean. My personal directorial pick for a viable and available director would have been Brad Anderson. Anderson had released the incredibly creepy horror films Session 9 that matched the realistic, yet gritty style of Seven. Anderson has proven his ability in thrillers with The Machinist, Transsiberian, The Call and Fractured. A series of murders has R Lee Ermy’s police chief (who likely would’ve been James Dean Morgan’s character) coming to Morgan Freeman’s Summerset. Summerset in his time on a farm has somehow developed psychic abilities, possibly due to the traumatising case of John Doe. A young female detective, likely played by Jennifer Love Hewitt or Naomi Watts is brought on to help. As Summerset investigates, he realizes the killer has the same psychic gift as him. Like the original Seven, the killer probably would’ve been a secret celebrity. Someone like Johnny Deep, George Clooney or Russell Crowe at the time. But I theorise that the psychic killer might’ve been Brad Pitt’s Detective Mills. Bear with me here. If Summerset got his abilities from the incident from John Doe, Mills would have too. What if he was admitted to an asylum and either escaped or faked his death, and is now performing these merciful murders. Maybe Mills wants to spare people the fate he has to live with? It’s an interesting idea, but likely the killer would’ve been new to the series and just someone else for Morgan Freeman’s Summerset to stop. In my opinion, Solace would’ve made for an interesting sequel that I’m guessing would’ve been rejected by audiences and critics. Seven is such a hard act to follow that wasn’t calling out for a sequel. It stands as one of the true great original films: it’s not a book adaptation, there’s no remake and it isn’t a series. Seven is a classic, Solace is a decent film-but we’ll never know what it would’ve truly been like if Solace was the definitive sequel to Seven.
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