“We thank the bad experience prior.” Seven owes its ending to Brad Pitt's disappointing experience with another movie
Brad Pitt didn't want Seven to have any other ending and stood firm on the matter after he learned the hard way in another film that nothing can be left to chance.
Brad Pitt, having learned from bad experiences in the past, made sure that the film would remain what he had agreed to at the beginning and would not undergo drastic changes in the course of the work. And he cared enough about the ending in Seven to stay as he agreed on it at the beginning, that before he signed the contract, he made sure it was written in it that the ending had to remain the same.
And when it was suggested that it might be worth changing the contents of box in Seven’s ending, Pitt reminded about his contract. He stood firm on the shocking ending, which was a good decision. Seven's finale still generates discussions to this day, which probably wouldn't have happened if this one had been different, not as shocking.
He talked about how he fought to end Seven during an interview with Jake's Takes.
When I signed to do the film, I said that ending has to be [the same]. I got in my contract that ending has to stay, because I'd had experience on something before where something that was controversial got cut out. To me it was why we go to movies. So it was in my contract [that ending has to stay]. So sure enough when the movie came out there was this push, that he'd be much more likable if the dogs heads were in the box. [I was like,] “Nope”. We thank the bad experience prior.
The film that prompted him to have such a note in his contract may have been Legends of the Fall, which premiered a year before Seven. Brad Pitt came into conflict with the director of that production, reportedly unhappy with the final version. He disliked it so much that he wanted to abandon the project, but eventually completed it (via People).
Edward Zwick admitted that Pitt did not like how his character was ultimately portrayed.
When I showed Brad the final film, he wasn’t pleased. He felt I’d underplayed his character’s madness. I had in fact cut only a single shot from the scene where Tristan is raging with fever, screaming as the waves wash over him on the schooner. But it was a shot he dearly loved, and it would have been little enough to leave it in, and I should have. Apologies, Brad.
Brad Pitt didn’t have to face a similar situation with Seven, where he made sure that everything played out the way he wanted it to. He didn't impose his own version of the film, but only wanted it to be what he had accepted at the beginning.
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