Where does "Seven" take place?
 

It's never revealed :) And i bet there is no real answer.

Of course, the question is where is it SUPPOSED to take place, not where was it filmed.

You're right - there's no real answer. It's supposed to take place in ANY megapolis.

Well, it's never stated but it was written during Andrew Walker's time spent trying to make it as a screen writer in New York.

Filming wise it was Philadelphia, Pa. and Los Angeles, Ca.

It'll make sense if this was L.A. since they did go out to the desert for the final scene.

Oh yeah.. forget where they were, a better question is WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!

Yeah that's what I've always understood too. I could swear I heard in an interview or commentary that it left vague on purpose.

I read the book adaptation as a kid, and I thought it took place in NYC.

Gotham. In the sequel, we find Mills, haunted by the murder of his wife, training to be a tireless, avenging crimefighter.

Los Angeles, November 2019

It always looked like the shittiest imaginable part of NYC, but that isn't too close to the desert.

Didn't resemble L.A. to me.

Maybe it was Albuquerque... ;)

True, and the problem with any city in the southwest is that it doesn't rain enough - the city in the movie seemed to have constant rain. The only city in the US that has a good amount of rain, dark days and not too far from a desert is San Francisco - which Fincher grew up near. Though it's obviously not supposed to be San Fran either.

I didn't realize it was filmed in Phila. I'll have to re-watch it.

When I read the question above I don't think immediately of Se7en, as MTV's "What's in the box" clip with Shatner comes to mind first. Comedy gold right there.

Seattle fits, which has constant rain and desert to the east.

I love how this movie brings about so much discussion on this forum. I remember the good ol Was John Doe Right? thread. Good stuff.

Baltimore

I always thought it was Gotham City.

I never even thought about it or cared, since its irrelevant. :shrug:

What's funny is I saw it when it first came out, and that was all I could think about. Throughout the whole movie, the fact that they never addressed the location (real or not) bugged the fucking shit out of me - it seemed like a really lazy writer's device to me and it made me disconnect and kept me from liking the movie initially. I ended up getting over it, but it's still kinda lazy and annoying just because I need some point of reference, and none is given. Even Star Wars gave us "long ago and far away", which was just enough.

I disagree. I think its a good writers device. They wanted to portray the events that happened could take place in any big city. That all big cities are full of trash. The reason they didn't want to say what city it was is because once they give that away you automatically link your idea of the city with what the movie is trying to convey. So if they say it takes place in LA you might jump to the conclusion that this movie a knock on the shitty people in Hollywood. If it took place in NY you may think that its a knock on the shitty financial people.

By not giving away the place, the writers have to create their own city free of stereotypes.

Then again I never even noticed that they didn't mention the city. I didn't think about it til I read this thread.

Same here. Never crossed my mind.

That's what I always thought.

That doesn't mean it's not a lazy cheat - in fact, that defines it. But I'm okay with it now.

Never thought about it, and even after reading this, I still don't care. I'm in the "puposely vague" camp.

I don't think it ever wanted to reveal where it took place, because from my view it was always a fictional place to start with, it is left to the imagination, it could be anywhere, it seems like it was a madeup city. Which I admire it for.

Makes the movie even creepier.

:thumbsup: to John Doe, a man who wouldn't take it anymore and decided to change the world!

Because of the desert at the end, I always assumed it was L.A.

I'm glad it was a vague setting. Too many movies have New York City as the center of the universe.

I dunno man. Look at it the other way - take any movie that has a clear specific actual location, say, Chinatown's LA (or really any movie's real city). Now take away that specific location and turn it into something nondescript but keep everything else, and the movie will always suffer for it. So it stands to reason that if a movie that took place in a fake city was instead made real, it'd be the better for it.

I'm not saying that you're wrong but I'm having trouble understanding what you mean by its a lazy cheat. I feel its the opposite of a lazy cheat in storytelling. Without giving up the name of the city, they had to create their own universe. Wouldn't that be considered better writing and not cheating?

Examples?

I can't think of any movie that suffers if not given a real location. Fight Club didn't give away its location and it didn't suffer from it. I don't think Training Day did either. Maybe you disagree on that assesment but both those movies were generally liked and IMO if Fight Club had given a location the movie would have suffered from that.

Some movies would suffer without a real location. The previously mentioned Chinatown. Or Manhattan. Etc. But others work fine in "Any City, USA". Seven is one of those films.

LA do get lot of raining during the Winter. :shrug:

Good point, but i thought the move has a New York feel in it.

I'm pretty sure, LA, more than any other city, is the inspiration for the movie since that's where the writer lived, and worked at the Tower Records on Sunset for the three years he took writing the movie.

French Lick, Indiana

Brilliant.

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They never mentioned what city The Matrix took place in. Though you could tell it was filmed in Chicago.

i really thought it resembled Seattle.

I thought Training Day specifically said it took place in LA. I know that the project in the "king Kong" scene is actually in LA, just not sure if it is named the same in the film.

They shot it all in Australia, but they used Chicago street names.

Re: Where does "Seven" take place?
 

When Mills and Somerset meet the FBI guy in the dinner clearly in the background you can see New York Pizza.