Movies

Denzel Washington Almost Snagged Brad Pitt's Iconic 1990s Role

Denzel Washington Almost Snagged Brad Pitt's Iconic 1990s Role
Image credit: New Line Cinema, Warner Bros

But he still believes that Brad Pitt was a good choice — we can’t agree more.

Summary:

  • Brad Pitt got his first fame moments back in the 1990s with this film being one of such moments — but it was recently revealed that the actor had almost lost the role to another famous candidate.
  • The movie’s plot follows a thrilling story of two detectives who embark on a search for a killer whose murder system was inspired by one particular religious aspect.
  • The film eventually turned out to be a huge success that brought the director and Brad Pitt himself to the A-list of filmmakers.

Brad Pitt may have cemented his legacy of a legendary Hollywood actor back in the 1990s, but one of his outstanding roles could’ve never been his if it had been given to another actor as it’d been supposed to.

And the second candidate for the role wasn’t inferior at all — with all his experience with action films and thrillers, Denzel Washington could’ve also made a great fit.

While talking to Jamie Foxx on Grey Goose Vodka, the actor revealed that he had almost landed David Mills’ role in David Fincher’s crime thriller Seven that worthily holds the status of one of the best thrillers of the 1990s.

Washington went further with explaining the reasons for turning the script down — with the main one being that the story had seemed too demonic compared to what he would have chosen to do on the screen.

However weird it might sound, Washington's reason makes total sense in terms of the film’s plot if we take the word “demonic” literally. Seven primarily depicts two detectives that are set to find a killer whose murder system is inspired by the seven deadly sins.

Denzel Washington also shared other reasons for his crucial decision and said that he was in fact not impressed by the film’s sinister atmosphere; on top of that, the actor didn’t feel like he wanted to collaborate with David Fincher who at that time couldn’t really boast of numerous successful projects.

Eventually, as Washington recalls, he did regret turning the offer down — but still admitted that Brad Pitt was a better fit for the role. The actor didn’t miss a chance to praise his colleague’s powerful performance in Seven.

Denzel Washington Almost Snagged Brad Pitt's Iconic 1990s Role - image 1

As it turned out, the movie that Washington got away from became a true cultural phenomenon and a huge success in all aspects.

Unlike David Washington probably expected, Seven helped Fincher boost his career and thus made him one of the most proclaimed directors of modern times, while Brad Pitt finally switched from his “golden boy” roles to something more dramatical that surely won him a lot of other significant movie appearances too.

Source: Grey Goose Vodka