The Truth Behind Se7en

Who knew 'Se7en' was originally being developed for Egyptian TV -- only to later be rejected in favor of 'Ice Cream In Gleem'? At least this is what a not so truthful but entertaining commercial is implying.

In it, a greasy studio executive named Wadia is pitching the screenplay of 'Se7en' to a vain mogul at Tohamy Studios. By the time the accompanying screenwriter starts talking about the theme of the seven deadly sins though, the studio head loses his comfort about producing it... because he's guilty of all seven sins himself. In order to solve his personal conflict, he instructs Wadia to sell the screenplay to "any other country", instead producing 'Ice Cream In Gleem'.

Incidentally, even though the commercial is a spoof, 'Se7en' really was first being developed for another production company, Penta in Italy, before finding its way to David Fincher. Originally attached to direct was Jeremiah Chechik of 'The Avengers' fame, who wanted to lighten up the story-line, and Denzel Washington was set to play David Mills. Fortunately, by way of an office mixup, the original and darker screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker found its way to Fincher's desk, who fought for the original ending... and the rest is history.

The commercial was produced by advertising agency Leo Burnett Cairo, Egypt, and won a Film Lions Bronze award at the Cannes advertising festival this year.

Here's the ad on Coloribus. Enjoy:
http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/tv-commercials/tv-channel-seven-13757055/

Huge thanks to Manny for this post!

7 comments:

  1. On the coloribus site there are several more prominent films that were rejected by the legendary Tohamy Studios: Braveheart, Titanic, Rocky and Dances With Wolves. Make sure to check those out as well!

    Amazing find. Thanks again, Manny.

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  2. seven is finchers best film of all i really enjoyed this film were was many memorable scenes and the end was a lot of fun and sad i like the movie very much because it didnt get boring and it was a very fun film to watch with good actors

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  3. Lol... I love the way Wadia says "I hope you had a nice shower"...

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  4. I love the actors acting out the final scene "that will change the cinema industry:" -- with the whacky sex toy head-in-a-box, John Doe wiggling his tongue and Mills struggling. That is perfectly weird casting, superb acting... almost like in Fincher's movie. Really awesome! Haha.

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  5. check:

    http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/the-social-network-opens-new-york-film-festival/#more-52525

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  6. an this:

    http://filmlinc.com/nyff/index.html

    plus the teaser #2

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  7. http://filmlinc.com/nyff/index.html

    incl. teaser #2

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