Credit: A24
Sat 8 August 2026 19:14, UK
The life of a Hollywood actor will always be filled with tales of missed opportunities.
Although some actors may have amazing filmographies to refer to, there will always be those few roles that got away from them, either due to scheduling conflicts or misjudging the material they had to work with. While Denzel Washington had earned the right to do whatever he wanted in the late 1990s, he ended up turning down one iconic role offered to him by David Fincher.
Up until that point, Washington had been known as one of the most charismatic leading men in show business. Both before and after his big boost in popularity, Washington’s turns on the small screen in St Elsewhere and later inspirational films like Remember the Titans made him seem like the nicest guy in the world that nearly anyone could find something to like.
When talking about movies he had doubts about, Washington said that he had originally turned down a role in the Fincher drama Se7en. Although the movie might hold up as a classic from the thriller genre these days, Washington had legitimate concerns about working with a relatively young director like Fincher.
Until then, Fincher’s filmography had been relegated to only music videos, working magic for artists like Madonna and Aerosmith. Having come off the disappointing third instalment in the Alien franchise, it’s no surprise that Washington felt wary about a thriller, especially following up his iconic roles in films like Malcolm X and Crimson Tide.
With hindsight, it looks like one hell of a misread, but at the time, Washington’s caution was hardly ridiculous. Fincher was still carrying the stink of Alien 3, while Se7en was the sort of grim, rain-soaked thriller that could just as easily have disappeared into the middle of the decade without a trace. Instead, it became the film that announced Fincher as a major director and helped turn Brad Pitt into something more than a handsome movie star. Washington wasn’t walking away from an obvious classic. He was gambling that it probably wouldn’t become one.
While it remains unclear whether he was offered the role taken up by Morgan Freeman or Brad Pitt, playing the wiser cop that helps investigate the heinous murders committed by Kevin Spacey’s John Doe would have made more sense. Then again, Washington may have found that style of character a bit too easy for him at this stage of his career.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
Since Washington had been known for his likeable characters, he was the one man in every film that fans were always willing to root for to win out in the end. Though not all of them had been hits, Washington was bound to test the limits of his craft a few years after Se7en when working on Training Day.
Instead of the usual leading man roles that fans had come to expect from him, Washington had turned himself into the embodiment of police corruption in the role of Alonzo Harris, playing off of Ethan Hawke’s character as the devil on his shoulder.
That’s what makes the Se7en story more interesting than the usual tale of an actor kicking themselves over a missed hit. Washington eventually embraced exactly the sort of darkness he had once been wary of, only he did it on his own terms. By the time Training Day came around, there was no need to protect the image of the noble leading man any more, and he seemed to relish the chance to play someone rotten right through to the bone.
Coming from the man seen as the embodiment of what’s right, Washington, shaking off the public’s expectations, gave him free rein to go in different directions later on in his career.
From there, Washington turned himself into a thespian Swiss army knife, using his skills to become The Equalizer while sinking his teeth into dramatic roles like The Book of Eli. Washington would also gain a greater appreciation for proper directing, moving behind the camera for the adaptations of Fences. Washington may have a few regrets about turning down Se7en, but sometimes turning down projects can lead an actor down avenues they didn’t even know they were capable of.
