- 01
The executives of New Line Cinema originally wanted to change the film's dark ending. It was rewritten to where John Doe kidnapped Tracy and Somerset and Mills raced to save her life. Brad Pitt (David Mills) downright refused to make the film if the ending was changed.
- 02
While preparing for his scene in the interrogation room, Leland Orser (Crazed Man In Massage Parlor) intentionally hyperventilated to make his body overly saturated with oxygen. He also deprived himself of sleep for a few days to make his character look more disoriented.
- 03
The film's director, David Fincher told Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey, "This is not going to be the movie that you're remembered for, but it may be a movie you're incredibly proud of."
- 04
Because he wanted his character to have poor fashion sense, Brad Pitt bought his own ties for the film.
- 05
Denzel Washington was approached for the role of Mills. He felt the film was too dark and evil, so he turned it down. He later caught a screening of the film and ended up regretting his decision. Sylvester Stallone also turned the part down.
- 06
The filmmakers decided that it should always be raining, not only to add a sense of dread, but also so they would never have to worry about bad weather.
- 07
For the role of Victor, David Fincher wanted someone incredibly skinny, weighing around 90 pounds. When Michael Reid MacKay auditioned, he weighed 96 pounds. He ended up getting the part, and Fincher jokingly told him to lose more weight. To Fincher's surprise, MacKay actually lost 6 pounds by the time filming started.
- 08
David Fincher was worried that Morgan Freeman (William Somerset) would turn the film down. He believed Freeman would feel the film was too down market. Freeman ended up being the first one to eagerly join the cast.
- 09
The film's screenwriter, Andrew Kevin Walker had a difficult time getting a studio to buy the rights to his script due to the fact that he was a complete unknown in Hollywood. Supposedly, he resorted to collecting a list of agents that represented writers that work in crime and thriller genres, and he called each one until he got a positive response.
- 10
Brad Pitt explained to David Fincher how he hated chase scenes where the chaser always knew where the person being chased is. Together, Pitt and Fincher worked out how Mills would be reacting during the chase scene, where he reluctantly went around corners, not knowing where John Doe was at any moment.
- 11
All of John Doe's books were real books written for the film. They took 2 months to complete and they supposedly cost $15,000.
- 12
Brad Pitt stated that Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Tracy is the only sunshine they have in the film.
- 13
Because of the constant battles he had to face with the studio while working on Alien 3, David Fincher was determined not to let his vision be compromised this time. Just like Alien 3, the studio wanted to change this film's ending, but this time, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman backed Fincher up and put their foot down.
- 14
Gwyneth Paltrow was David Fincher's first choice for the part of Tracy. She initially turned it down due to lack of interest, but because she was Brad Pitt's girlfriend at the time, Fincher was able to ask him to convince her to meet with him.
- 15
For the Gluttony crime scene, seven crates of cockroaches were brought to set and poured on Bob Mack (Gluttony Victim). A roach expert used Vaseline to keep the bugs on set. Mack's ears and nose were plugged up to prevent the cockroaches from crawling in. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to stop the roaches from crawling into Mack's underwear.
- 16
For the Gluttony scene, Bob Mack had to wear his prosthetics for 10 hours a day. David Fincher felt really bad that Mack had to wear all hot and heavy Gluttony prosthetics. To compensate for this, he made sure that Mack was well-endowed for his autopsy scene.
- 17
Brad Pitt said that one of the reasons he took this role was because he wanted to "escape the cheese" after doing Legends Of The Fall.
- 18
While filming the Greed scene, Gene Borkan (Eli Gould) was hog-tied while only wearing his underwear for most of the shoot. He had to be covered in two gallons of fake blood, and the blood was so thick that his knees became stuck to the floor.
- 19
The Mills' apartment was built on a shakable platform. The crew would sometimes trick visitors on set with "instant earthquakes."
- 20
Val Kilmer turned down the role of John Doe.
- 21
R. Lee Ermy (Police Captain) originally auditioned for John Doe. David Fincher felt that Ermy's take on the character was too cut and dry and there wasn't much room for any gray area.
- 22
Gene Hackman turned down the role of Somerset because there were too many night shoots. Robert Duvall also turned down the role.
- 23
John Doe can be seen entering the diner where Tracy and Somerset were meeting at. That's how he found out about Tracy's baby.
