Fight Club

Theatrical release: October 15, 1999. FIGHT CLUB premiered at the CMJ Film Festival on September 21, 1999. Filmed in Los Angeles, California. Director David Fincher shot over 1,500 reels of film, which is over three times the usual amount of footage used for most feature length films. The house on Paper Street was specifically designed for the film and built from the ground up in a deserted industrial zone. Edward Norton’s character is actually unnamed, but is sometimes referred to as "Jack," which comes from a medical book he reads in the Paper Street house. In the book, internal body organs speak as characters, saying things like "I am Jack's colon." As the movie progresses, the narrator makes up his own statements such as "I am Jack's raging bile duct." Subliminal images are present throughout the film. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) flashes onto the screen in four split-second appearances before actually encountering Edward Norton’s character. Tyler also briefly appears in a television ad (for an upscale restaurant) that "Jack" watches from his hotel room. Later, Tyler is shown splicing pornographic footage into family films while working in a projection booth. At the end of the film, there’s a quick shot of one of these images. Brad Pitt removed the cap from his chipped front tooth for certain scenes. Visual effects supervisor Kevin Scott Mack (who designed the elaborate title sequence) appears as a terrified passenger in the scene where the narrator imagines his plane ripping apart in a mid-air collision. In the house on Paper Street, there’s an issue of Movieline magazine with Drew Barrymore on the cover. Barrymore costarred with Norton in Woody Allen’s EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU. In addition to the Dust Brothers' score, the film also features the songs "Goin' Out West" by Tom Waits and "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies.

Fincher's adrenaline-soaked adaptation of Palahniuk's electric first novel is a satirical, absurdist romp highlighted by his trademark visual flair. Norton is "The Narrator," a fed-up modern-day adult who trudges through his mundane daily existence with no release or outlet for his confusion. He begins attending support groups for individuals with cancer as a way to actually feel something. There, he confronts another faker, Marla (Carter), who seems to be even more jaded and cynical than he is. On a business trip, he meets the mysterious Tyler Durden (Pitt), a soap manufacturer whose opinions connect with and inspire him. They form a FIGHT CLUB to release their aggression, and before long, the whole world seems to be joining in on the fun. Brutally graphic, with a juvenile undercurrent of homoeroticism, Fincher's film is funny, charged, and long.

David Fincher's (SEVEN) adrenaline-fueled adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel is a satirical, absurdist romp highlighted by the director's visual flair. Edward Norton is the narrator of the tale, a fed-up adult who trudges through his mundane daily existence with no release or outlet for his confusion. He begins attending support groups for individuals with cancer as a way of actually feeling something. There, he confronts another faker, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), who seems to be even more jaded and cynical than he. On a business trip, he meets the mysterious Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a soap manufacturer, whose opinions connect with and inspire him. They form a "fight club" to release their aggression, and before long, the whole world seems to be joining in on the "fun." The film is an aggressive and anarchic, yet arguably comedic take on the ethos of late 1990s consumer culture.