David Fincher, Brad Pitt and extreme brutality: How ‘Seven’ inspired James Wan and ‘Saw’
As the mastermind behind two of the most profitable horror franchises in history, it would probably be an understatement to call James Wan one of the genre’s most important figures of the 21st century, even after he evolved into helming billion-dollar blockbusters, too.
Having directed the first two installments in the main series and produced every single other one, Wan has been integral to the Conjuring universe, which has become the top-earning horror property of all time. While that’s an impressive achievement in itself, he also developed the story and helmed Saw, which would itself go on to spawn a money-spinning string of sequels.
Wan’s Insidious additionally gave rise to four sequels that hauled in a collective $730million from cinemas, so in terms of being a guaranteed barometer of profitability in the realms of big-screen terror, the only real competition for the crown is Blumhouse head honcho Jason Blum, and he’s only a producer.
Dead Silence, Death Sentence, and Malignant furthered his love of scaring audiences witless, while he made a seamless jump into the action arena with the seventh Fast & Furious flick and the Aquaman duology, so he’s also one of the most commercially successful filmmakers of the modern era in general.
It’s been quite the rise, but it may not have unfolded in the way it did without David Fincher’s Seven. Wan collaborated with Leigh Whannell on writing the screenplay for the film that turned Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw into an icon, which was heavily inspired by and indebted to Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman’s dogged detectives trying to track down and stop the murderous John Doe.
When asked by JoBlo if Seven was a touchstone during the creation of Saw, given the similarities between the two, Whannell answered with a firm “definitely,” before going on to explain why. “I mean, Seven is just a very well-constructed film, and if you’re writing a thriller, it can’t hurt to study it,” he continued. “In terms of the story, though, James and I never really felt Seven was that close to our film. I guess if you stand back, you have two detectives chasing a psychopath, who uses vile methods to teach people lessons, and those points echo Seven.”
Beyond that, both Doe and Jigsaw are spurred to kill as a means of exposing the hubristic decadence of modern society, while uncovering the hidden sins of the average person. If they find somebody to be wicked, evil, or taking the wrong path, they’ll go out of their way to leave a bloody trail of destruction in their wake to underline the transgressions of their victims.
That’s not to say Saw is a thinly-veiled remake of Seven that didn’t give credit where it was due, but it’s easy to see the parallels between the two, which served as the initial springboard that launched Wan into the position he currently finds himself.
