Denzel Washington says he passed up the lead in 'Seven'

TORONTO, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Double Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington says he passed up the lead role in Seven because director David Fincher's 1995 serial-killer thriller was simply too disturbing.

"I made the mistake of turning down Seven. I turned down Seven. Brad Pitt's part. I was just like, 'Man!' And then I saw it and I was like, 'Oh!'" Washington told reporters at a recent press conference for The Equalizer in Toronto, hanging his head in regret. "But, evidently, it wasn't for me. It was Brad all the time. But it was just too much when I read it, but it was different when I saw it."

The Equalizer hit theaters last Friday, a week before Fincher's latest picture Gone Girl is set to open.

Coincidentally, Ben Affleck, the star of Gone Girl, cited Seven as one of the reasons why he wanted to work with Fincher.

"I would have done the phone book with David," Affleck declared at a press conference in New York this past weekend.

"So, you can imagine my relief when I read Gone Girl and it wasn't just an alphabetical list of names. There was a story," Affleck joked. "To get a chance to work with a guy you admire a great deal, particularly as a director, which, I want to be a director one day. ... Before all the movies that I directed -- all three of them -- I watched Seven. I feel like it is the most perfectly meticulously Swiss-watch-made thing. What kind of person makes a movie like this? It was great to work with him and I learned a great deal from him and it was a pleasure to be around him and it was a true learning experience and I loved it. I would do it again and again and again a million times. It was a joy and David is also -- despite his reputation -- a very funny and nice guy. Not just a demon."