13 Movies Saved By Ridiculously Last Minute Changes

11. David Fincher & Brad Pitt Fight To Keep The Bleak Ending - Se7en

After being thoroughly burned by studio interference on his previous film Alien 3, director David Fincher fought aggressively against New Line Cinema to ensure they didn't compromise Se7en's chillingly bleak ending.

The finale sees Brad Pitt's Detective Mills killing the villainous John Doe (Kevin Spacey), ironically completing the cycle of seven deadly sins Doe's been carrying out over the course of the movie. It's a darkly poetic finale that provides a perfect capper to a thoroughly engrossing thriller.

However, New Line fought Fincher and star Brad Pitt all the way to the finish line, proposing numerous alternate endings, such as Gwyneth Paltrow's wife character surviving, her severed, boxed head being replaced with that of a dog's, and most bafflingly, Mills murdering not only John Doe but also his own partner, Somerset (Morgan Freeman), in a fit of rage.

It eventually transpired that the studio sent Fincher the darker original script by accident, but once Pandora's Box was open, Fincher wouldn't let it lie.

Despite the studio's aggressive efforts to soften the tone, Fincher won out, and his only concession was adding the final Ernest Hemingway quotation rather than cutting to black as soon as Doe was dead.

Considering that the movie is one of the most acclaimed thrillers of the 1990s and grossed over $325 million worldwide, it's safe to say Fincher's instincts were right.