David Fincher has revealed how artificial intelligence helped enhance the upcoming 4K remaster of “Se7en,” his landmark 1995 crime thriller starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.
In a new interview with EW, Fincher explained that AI technology helped fix previously undetectable issues. “Throwing this new kind of technological firepower at stuff was, for me, really revelatory,” Fincher said. “We ran into things that heretofore had never been noted. I mean, shots that were fundamentally out of focus that you couldn’t read on film and couldn’t read even in HD.”
Fincher added: “And then you get to 4K downsampling of the 8K scan. And we did end up going in and doing little split screens and using AI to sharpen things so that we could reestablish what was intended to be looked at.”
The remastering process took over a year, with Fincher noting it “could have been twice that” if left to his own devices. His team worked meticulously to recreate the film’s original look. “We were really trying to get back to that first CCE check print that we saw 30 years ago when we were like, ‘OK, that’s the movie. That’s the contrast of it. That’s the density of it. Those are the colors. This is where they’re muted, and here’s where they’re vibrant.’ And really just try to remember what — technologically and artistically — that first print effect was. And I think we did it.”
While embracing AI as a tool, Fincher emphasized his goal with the “Se7en” remaster was preservation. “I honestly believe that films are as beholden to the technological artifacts of the time as they are to the limitations of budget and whatever, so I tend to feel like there are certain lines that can’t be crossed,” Fincher said.
He added: “Having said that, there was color matching that we couldn’t do in 1995 making release prints. There were certain things that we just couldn’t get to flow seamlessly from one to the other that we now can do. There’s more firepower. There’s more ability to manipulate color, space, and key things.”
Fincher detailed specific improvements, including a scene with Kevin Spacey: “There were some shots of Kevin in the backseat of the police car with the grate that divides the front of the police car to the back, and there were shots that were completely out of focus,” Fincher said. “We were able to use AI and make mattes and extract the performance that was in the backseat and render it. It’s still soft, but it’s not as egregious as it was.”
The 4K remaster of “Se7en” debut in Imax theaters on Friday before releasing on 4K UHD Blu-ray and digital platforms on Jan. 7.