Editorials
‘Solace’: Screenwriter Ted Griffin Clears Up the Confusion About the Almost-Sequel to ‘Se7en’ [Larval Ink]
Welcome to Larval Ink, a recurring feature which will take a look at the earliest iterations of certain genre films as they existed in their early scripting stage, long before the transformation which significantly changed the original vision into its final form for the silver screen. Here, we will be chatting with the writers of these initial eggs to gain their unique insights into their screenplays and the finished films they would eventually metamorphose into, and all the painful phases in between.
With this installment, we’ll be delving into Solace, a screenplay which originated in the mid-90s and was eventually produced as the 2015 film of the same name starring Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Abbie Cornish and Colin Farrell. Penned by Sean Bailey (Push, Nevada) and Ted Griffin (Ocean’s 11, Matchstick Men), Solace may seem an unusual fit for this column, as it was eventually realized in a pretty faithful manner onscreen. However, during the early aughts, it was briefly developed as the sequel to David Fincher’s Se7en, rumored to be retitled as Ei8ht.
On hand to discuss the process of changing the original screenplay into a sequel to another film is Mr. Griffin, who was kind enough to discuss the screenplay’s origins, dispel a few erroneous rumors, and provide his ultimate thoughts on the film it eventually became.
“The initial idea of a clairvoyant brought in to catch a serial killer was Sean Bailey’s,” Mr. Griffin reveals, discussing the project’s genesis. “He wrote a first draft, then together we rewrote it considerably. This was way back in 1996, so Se7en had just come out and was (and is) a conspicuous influence on the script. Our draft kicked around a bit, optioned here and there before it landed with New Line for a spell in 2001.”
The film that was ultimately produced over a decade later under the screenplay’s original title and released by Lionsgate Premiere concerned Joe Merriwether (Morgan), an FBI agent saddled with solving a series of bizarre serial murders which find the killer’s victims having been painlessly dispatched with a clean puncture into their medulla oblongata. Partnered with Agent Katherine Cowles (Cornish) and failing to find any usable leads, Merriwether turns to longtime friend John Clancy (Hopkins), a reclusive psychic still reeling from losing his daughter to leukemia. After initially refusing to help, Clancy throws himself into the case when another murder is carried out, using his abilities to suss out a surprising motive for the killer: the victims have all been terminally ill, with the killer seeing his deeds as mercy killings meant to save his prey from their eventual suffering.
Anthony Hopkins as John Clancy in ‘Solace’ (2015)
A cat-and-mouse game ensues between Clancy and the killer, revealed to be Charles Ambrose (Farrell), who employs far more powerful psychic abilities to both choose his victims and stay one step ahead of the police. When a setup Ambrose orchestrated initiates a shootout with another murderer that claims Merriwether’s life, Clancy and Cowles carry on the investigation and discover Ambrose’s true endgame: for Clancy to carry on his work once he’s gone. A climactic chase ensues, culminating in a final showdown aboard a subway train which sees Ambrose, revealed to have a terminal illness himself, gunned down by Clancy to save Cowles’ life.
The film ends with Clancy reuniting with his estranged wife, just before a flashback provides a shocking revelation: Clancy had euthanized his cancer-afflicted daughter to end her suffering, effectively committing a mercy killing not unlike all of Ambrose’s murders. The movie concludes on an ambiguous note, leaving audiences to wonder if Clancy might indeed pick up Ambrose’s work in his stead.
Before the film was eventually realized in 2015, there was the brief but highly-discussed possibility that the screenplay was going to be retooled as a continuation of the Andrew Kevin Walker-penned Se7en. Rumors abounded in the early aughts that Morgan Freeman was meant to reprise his character of Detective Lieutenant William Somerset from that 1995 film, and that he may have displayed psychic abilities in the follow-up. “In truth, the notion of turning Solace into a Se7en sequel was pretty short-lived,” Mr. Griffin notes. “The concept was to change ‘Merriwether’ (ultimately played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) into ‘Somerset’ (Morgan Freeman’s character [from Se7en]).” This revelation corrects the long-held assumption that Freeman’s character would have suddenly developed psychic powers for the sequel.
Mr. Griffin continues: “I think Sean and I had one meeting with the New Line execs where we discussed how to pitch it to Morgan Freeman, but that meeting never came about. There was a rumor that David Fincher had called Freeman and talked him out of pursuing it, but David has never confirmed or denied that to me. I think Sean and I felt at the time that the movie would at the very least get critically lambasted if it was presented as a sequel to Se7en, but it was New Line’s dime.
Morgan Freeman as William Somerset in ‘Se7en’ (1995)
“I parted ways with the project around then – early 2002, I think. There were a number of directors attached and unattached over the years – Tarsem [Singh], Paul Verhoeven, Gary Fleder, if memory serves. I know Sean Bailey did further rewriting when Bruce Willis was attached as Clancy. Later, Jamie Vanderbilt (Truth, Zodiac) did a draft, and Peter Morgan (The Crown) came on to write a scene or two at Tony Hopkins’ request.”
So did the final film accurately represent the original vision from that early screenplay? “It’s now twenty-five years since I co-wrote, so it’s hard to remember exactly what the original vision was anymore. And, to be perfectly honest, I’ve only seen the movie once, in an unfinished form, on an editing bay.”
In closing out our discussion of this particular project, Mr. Griffin offers his thoughts on the potential retitling of Solace to Ei8ht, had it become a Se7en sequel: “This is the first I’ve ever heard of that, so I presume that’s just a rumor.”
Very special thanks to Ted Griffin for his time and insights.
On July 13th, 2026, the world lost one of its brightest stars.
Beloved New Zealand actor Sam Neill passed away from pneumonia after a long battle with stage 3 lymphoma. The multifaceted movie star will be remembered by mainstream audiences for his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 masterpiece Jurassic Park, as well as powerful turns in A Cry in the Dark (1988), The Piano (1993), and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and prestige TV series The Tudors and Peaky Blinders. But horror fans know him as one of the genre’s most surprising Scream Kings.
Through a handful of memorable starring roles, Neill spent the 80s and 90s bringing life to a wide variety of characters and finding humanity in the most unusual leading roles, regardless of how heroic or villainous.
The Final Conflict (1981)
After a decade on the stage and screen in New Zealand and Australia, Neill made his international debut as Damien Thorn in Graham Baker’s The Final Conflict, the third installment of The Omen franchise. Now a 36-year-old businessman, Damien is fully aware of his devilish parentage and hell-bent on world domination. But rather than a hooved and horned monstrosity, Neill’s Antichrist is a suave businessman who leads his followers in an expensive suit and seeks to bring about the apocalypse through deceptive altruism rather than grand proclamation.
Despite his austere demeanor, the man’s true evil knows no bounds. When a prophecy foretells the second coming of Christ, known in the film as “the Nazarene,” Damien commands his followers to commit widespread infanticide, murdering all baby boys born on a specific date. He seduces a high-profile reporter while transforming her teenage son into a bloodthirsty disciple, then uses the child as a human shield. This tricky role allows Neill to demonstrate his trademark versatility, easily charming the outside world while dropping his suave mask of normalcy behind closed doors. Though certain aspects of The Final Conflict are admittedly dated, Neill’s performance feels eerily prescient. He’s mastered the heinous portrayal of a politician willing to sell his soul for power that will ultimately bring about the end of the world.
Possession (1981)
Though Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession is often remembered for Isabelle Adjani’s stunning depiction of a woman on the edge, Neill delivers an equally unhinged performance as Mark, a spy returning home from a lengthy assignment in divided Berlin. Upon discovering that his wife Anna (Adjani) wants a divorce, Mark desperately tries to hold his family together even at the expense of her sanity. Filmed the same year as The Final Conflict, Neill dives headfirst into this visceral role, managing to evoke sympathy for the distraught father who becomes ever more desperate to regain control. Inspired by his own divorce, Żuławski resists blaming either party for the separation, instead showing the chaos and heartache that comes in the wake of a family’s dissolution.
Once considered to replace Roger Moore as the next James Bond, Neill has fun with the international spy persona as Żuławski’s plot grows increasingly bizarre. But the skilled actor never lets us forget that Mark is a flawed human being struggling to keep his life from falling apart. A second character emerges in the film’s mesmerizing climax, allowing Neill to lean into full villainy with a glassy-eyed stare that chills to the bone. Now a cult classic, Adjani and Neill bounce off each other’s seething rage, creating one of the most effective cinematic duets in the history of horror.
Jurassic Park (1993)
When Steven Spielberg’s creature feature first hit theaters, Neill was by no means a household name and hardly a traditional leading man. Without the swashbuckling swagger of Harrison Ford, the mega-watt smile of Tom Cruise, or the chiselled jaw of Brad Pitt — all famous action stars of the era — Neill felt like an unconventional choice for this massive role. But he perfectly captures the essence of Grant, an aloof academic who prefers dig sites to fancy fundraisers and social events. Despite an aversion to children, the dinosaur expert finds himself tasked with saving the theme park’s youngest survivors who gradually break down his emotional walls. Grant’s transformation into a courageous caretaker is a landmark deconstruction of traditional gender norms wrapped in the guise of a rugged outdoorsman.
Neill proves to be the perfect action star, effortlessly navigating Spielberg’s stunning set pieces without losing the character’s relatable hook. But perhaps the film’s most touching moment is Neill’s childlike wonder at seeing a dinosaur for the first time. Stunned to speechlessness, he channels the audience’s wondrous joy when Grant first spies a real, live Brachiosaurus. But he seamlessly weaves this infectious awe into serious concerns about the creature’s existence, amplifying the story’s prophetic messaging. Jeff Goldblum may utter the film’s iconic warning, but the duality of Grant’s performance perfectly illustrates the scientific imperative, reminding us that just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
Neill would go on to lead Joe Johnston’s 2001 sequel Jurassic Park III, in which Grant is again tasked with saving a child. In 2022, he would appear in Colin Trevorrow’s legacy sequel Jurassic World Dominion, which merges the franchise’s two distinct eras while bringing the carnage onto mainland shores. Despite turning in strong performances, neither film is able to top the magic of Spielberg’s original or Neill’s captivating performance as the stoic leading man. But his nuanced depiction of Alan Grant inspired a generation of would-be paleontologists and quiet kids who could now see themselves as courageous academics capable of surprising strength.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
After catapulting to worldwide fame, Neill returned to horror proper to lead John Carpenter’s mind-bending In the Mouth of Madness. We first meet John Trent (Neill) as he’s dragged, kicking and screaming, into a padded cell. An unknown stretch of time later, he recounts an unbelievable story while covered in protective crosses scrawled into his skin — and the cell’s walls — with black crayon. A private investigator, Trent has been tasked with locating Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow), a world-famous yet elusive genre author whose work has been driving his ravenous readers to disturbing acts of random violence.
A love letter to fans of horror fiction, we delight in watching Trent explore literary easter eggs that lead him down jarring rabbit holes. A late-night road trip takes Trent and Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), an editor for Cane’s publishing house, to a tiny New England hamlet teeming with darkness. While investigating an ominous cathedral on the outskirts of town, Trent realizes that he’s somehow been transported into the author’s interdimensional story and become its unwitting protagonist.
Neill serves as a skeptical everyman and the audience’s conduit through this bizarre tale of literary monsters that find a way to burst through the page. An often overlooked Carpenter film, In the Mouth of Madness spirals into insanity, but Neill keeps us grounded throughout each outlandish twist. A shocking conclusion leaves us gaping at our screens and contemplating our own relationship with horror fiction. After all, does free will truly exist? Or, like Trent, are we merely pawns in someone else’s monstrous creation?
Event Horizon (1997)
One of the scariest movies ever set in space, Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon builds upon the heroic image Neill established for himself in Jurassic Park. Dr. William Weir (Neill) is a physicist temporarily joining the crew of the Lewis and Clark to assist in their latest rescue mission. Seven years after vanishing without a trace, a spaceship called the Event Horizon has suddenly reappeared near Neptune’s orbit. As the creator of a top-secret gravity drive designed to facilitate faster-than-light travel, Dr. Weir has been sent to explore the ship and find out what happened to its missing crew.
Still haunted by his late wife’s suicide, Dr. Weir is a sympathetic figure, particularly in comparison to the harsh Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) who commands the crew of the Lewis and Clark. But Weir’s desperation to return to the infamous ship hides a sinister secret that leads his fellow astronauts to the threshold of hell. Neill’s talent for playing the everyman pays off in spades as the formerly sympathetic widower transforms into a disciple of this frightening dimension. Resembling a long-lost cenobite, Weir claws out his own eyes and prepares to drag the crew into a world consumed with sadistic pain.
Daybreakers (2009)
Neill returns to his Omen roots in Michael and Peter Spierig’s action-packed film as a secretly sinister businessman. But rather than the Antichrist, Charles Bromley (Neill) is a proud vampire convinced of the species’ superiority. With human blood in short supply, Bromley Marks Corp. is working on a synthetic substitute to prevent the human race from impending extinction. While hematologists perfect the formula, Bromley oversees disturbing fields of humans chained to massive machines that systematically harvest their blood.
Neill chills in this sinister role with vampiric yellow eyes, a pale complexion, and subtle fangs. But more upsetting is the fact that he honestly doesn’t believe he’s wrong. Once diagnosed with cancer, Bromley was delighted to find that vampirism would totally reverse his illness and grant him the gift of eternal life. He begged his daughter Alison (Isabel Lucas) to turn alongside him, but she has rejected her father’s controversial choice and is now hunted by his bloodthirsty goons. In a heartbreaking moment of clarity, Bromley brings his daughter to the brink of death, then turns away in disgust when she will not embrace his undead lifestyle.
Daybreakers is a surprisingly thrilling exploration of survival and sustainability. Similar to a plot Damien Thorn would hatch, Bromley’s ultimate plan is to placate the vampire population with synthetic blood while allowing the human population to replenish itself. With a larger stock, he plans to sell authentic humans at a premium, hunting these poor souls to season the meat. Bromley rejects a cure that would reverse the vampiric disease, choosing to enrich himself over saving the world. The strangely captivating villain’s end is a cathartic nightmare and fitting punishment for a wealthy man who places himself above everyone else.
In the Mouth of Madness
While the world may remember Neill for his signature role as a gruff but compassionate paleontologist going head to head with a raging T-Rex, horror fans may picture the versatile actor maniacally rocking back and forth in a filthy Berlin apartment, commanding a boardroom of corporate vampires, disappearing into the darkness of a haunted spaceship, sermonizing to satanists, or giggling over popcorn in a deserted movie theater. Or perhaps you have another favorite role in the beloved actor’s stellar career. But whether he was playing a hero or villain, Neill brought undeniable humanity to every role, redefining our idea of masculinity and the very nature of goodness vs. evil. By bringing such disparate characters to life, Neill challenged audiences with a variety of complex roles, asking us to examine the humanity of each character no matter how flawed or virtuous.
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