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Fight Club poster

Fight Club

year 1999decade 90sdirector David Finchergenre Dramagenre Thriller

139 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Edward Norton The Narrator
Brad Pitt Tyler Durden
Helena Bonham Carter Marla Singer
Meat Loaf Robert Paulson
Jared Leto Angel Face
Holt McCallany The Mechanic
Zach Grenier Richard Chesler
Eion Bailey Ricky
Thom Gossom Jr. Detective Stern

Fight Club | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanproducer Craig Horlbeckproducer Kyle Crichton
Explore episodeClose episode

Casting What-Ifs

Matt Damon or Sean Penn as the narrator; Russell Crowe as Tyler; Janeane Garofalo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon or Courtney Love as Marla; Radiohead score

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:10Read transcript
  • The studio wanted Matt Damon or Sean Penn for the narrator while Fincher wanted Norton; Norton was also up for The Talented Mr. Ripley, Man on the Moon and Runaway Jury in a casting merry-go-round.
  • An alternate universe where Damon does Fight Club and Norton does The Talented Mr. Ripley is fun to imagine, though Damon's Ripley is one of his best roles.
  • Norton and Damon competed for The Rainmaker, Coppola steered Norton to American History X, and Damon has said he was devastated to miss Primal Fear; Scent of a Woman went to Chris O'Donnell.
  • Damon brings relatability and Norton a cerebral quality; Damon could have played either part, Pitt only Tyler, and Norton not Tyler.
  • Leo was a little young post-Titanic but this would have been his dream part a few years later; Pitt's casting works because he is who guys daydreamed of being.
  • David O. Russell was approached to direct and declined; one producer wanted Russell Crowe as Tyler, but senior producer Linson wanted Pitt.
  • Crowe was about to go on his Gladiator-Insider-Beautiful Mind run and would have crushed the part with an Aussie hooligan authenticity, though Pitt is still preferred.
  • Fincher's first choice for Marla was Janine Garofalo; she reportedly accepted, then was dropped as not right for the role at Norton's urging, framed as the birth of the behind-the-scenes Norton monster.
  • Per Variety, Sarah Michelle Geller was sought but was doing Buffy; the studio wanted Reese Witherspoon, whom Fincher thought too young, and then Courtney Love, who was dating Norton, before landing on Bonham Carter.
  • Marla is said to have Courtney Love meets Joan Crawford energy, leading to a tangent about loving the band's 90s songs.
  • Fincher wanted Radiohead to score the film; it would have been eerier and more somber than the Dust Brothers' electronic score, not necessarily better, though the movie needs the Dust Brothers' energy.
  • Norton worked 129 days on the film, over four months.
  • Julie Louis Dreyfus and Winona Ryder as Marla candidates from the research are doubted as made-up IMDb trivia.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:26Read transcript
  • Ebert gave the film two stars, calling it visceral and hard-edged, a thrill ride masquerading as philosophy, and was disappointed a promising first act pandered to macho sensibilities and trickery.
  • He later acknowledged the film was beloved by most, not by him; the hosts are not surprised, since the second half turned many stomachs, especially the Jared Leto scene.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The bar and first fight; Tyler's speech through the stranger-fight and Project Mayhem montages

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:14Read transcript
  • The semi-opening insomnia and IKEA-catalog setup works like a narrator blog post of the life he hates.
  • The first 32 minutes, through the title sequence, support groups, meeting Marla, the plane fantasy, Bob and meeting Tyler, are relentless, with one-frame Pitt flashes.
  • The second Tyler scene, where the things you own end up owning you, leads to the first fight; Fincher told Norton to actually hit Pitt in the ear so the reaction is genuine.
  • Tyler's speech to the fight club and the fight with Lou are highlighted; the speech is played.
  • The most rewatchable stretch is Tyler's speech through the stranger-fight montage, the narrator fighting himself in the boss's office and the first Project Mayhem montage, about 20 minutes.
  • Combined, that is the first hour, which still makes the hair stand up even though the film quickly became a cliche of itself in bathroom stalls and MySpace bios.
  • The car accident is a half-rewatchable scene, shot uniquely.
  • The hotel-room reveal that the narrator is Tyler is hard to overstate, followed by chasing Tyler around the map, the final Pitt-Norton scene and the Pixies ending.
  • The other pick is the bar and first fight; the twist ages best among the era's twist movies but matters least, because the first hour and a half works as a relationship drama.
  • The speech, the Lou cameo and the stranger-fight montage section is endorsed as the choice.

What’s Aged the Best?

The twist; the DVD; the shirtless Pitt image; 'His name is Robert Paulson'; the narration; Fincher's timing and nameless city; Marla's glass-slipper line; the rules of Fight Club; the Pixies ending

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:21Read transcript
  • The twist ages best because rewatching means hunting for clues, such as identical suitcases; someone online counted 27 hints.
  • The DVD ages best: the 99-2000 era of double discs, director commentary and deleted scenes.
  • The famous shirtless-Pitt fight image is the one picture always associated with the movie.
  • 'His name is Robert Paulson' was dropped into old football-pick columns after two theater viewings, and is proposed as a crowd chant at free throws.
  • The support-group material is too long and could be 30 seconds, though its aphoristic narration is the first clue the narrator and Tyler are the same.
  • Despite a dislike of narrators, the narration could not work better here.
  • Fincher's timing, catching the moment again with The Social Network, and the nameless always-raining, empty Fincher City are praised; he should have directed Escape from New York.
  • Marla's line that the condom is the glass slipper of our generation is a favorite.
  • The eight rules of Fight Club are read, with jokes about adding two more to reach ten.
  • The Pixies ending was undersold in aged best; it was a thrill in the theater and a perfect song choice, though it also gives away the movie.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The twist's lost surprise; fleeting self-fight shots; now-untouchable satire; disinformation and mischief boxes; 15 minutes too long; Leto's beating; Project Mayhem after January 6

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:41Read transcript
  • The twist ages worst because everyone knows it now and no one gets the first-time rush; a producer's generation may still get it.
  • The self-fighting scenes are shown only fleetingly because the visual does not really work.
  • It satirizes things people would now be afraid to touch; the headquarters boxes labeled disinformation and mischief feel like a perfect combo for 2021.
  • It is 15 minutes too long and could have been about two hours five or ten.
  • Leto getting destroyed is tough to watch; an original version reportedly had rivers of blood and a caved-in face.
  • All the Project Mayhem material is creepy after January 6.
  • Helena Bonham Carter is proposed for aged worst and contested; the other side has her more in aged best.
  • The case against her: Marla is a home-run part that in stronger hands earns an Oscar nomination over the 1999 supporting-actress field, though the character lacks agency and mostly reacts.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:05Read transcript
  • Meatloaf is the pick: a campy 70s rock star people had given up on pops up in three or four scenes as bitch tits.
  • Chloe the cancer patient and her speech is offered as another candidate.
  • Jared Leto was a big deal at the time for being disfigured and blond, but on rewatch he did not stand out; he is better in Panic Room.

Recasting Couch

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:59Read transcript
  • Reese Witherspoon as Marla is revisited; she reportedly turned it down, and it is the part she was always wanted for, as hinted by Freeway.
  • She would definitely have been Oscar-nominated.
  • Angelina Jolie is floated, leading to sliding-doors jokes about the Aniston-Jolie triangle, but the preference returns to Witherspoon.
  • She is a little young, but at that stage she would have fully committed to escape the teen-star image, unlike Wild.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Pitt's chipped teeth; ear prosthetic; Meat Loaf's fat harness; misfired $20 million marketing; Rosie O'Donnell forgiven on commentary; EW's top DVD; Norton smoking; Starbucks refusal; UFC tapes; orgasm recordings; replaced abortion line; salary gap

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:39Read transcript
  • Pitt had pieces of his front teeth chipped off for the role and restored after filming.
  • The makeup artist studied mixed martial arts on pay-per-view and designed an extra ear, inspired by Tyson-Holyfield.
  • Meatloaf wore a 90-pound fat harness, and reportedly eight-inch lifts in scenes with Norton, which is doubted.
  • Fox marketing executives ran a $20 million campaign selling it as a fight movie rather than a smart one.
  • On the DVD commentary Pitt called Rosie O'Donnell's actions forgivable.
  • Entertainment Weekly's 2001 list of 50 essential DVDs ranked it first; Boogie Nights would be the choice for greatest DVD.
  • Norton refused to smoke in Rounders but smoked here.
  • Starbucks allowed product placement but not the coffee-shop destruction, hence the renamed shop.
  • Fincher and the cast studied UFC tapes.
  • Pitt and Bonham Carter spent three days recording orgasm sounds.
  • Laura Ziskin made Fincher cut Marla's abortion line; he agreed on condition she could not veto the replacement, the grade-school line.
  • Pitt was paid $17.5 million and Norton $2.5 million.

Apex Mountain

Edward Norton; 1999 movie twists; Helena Bonham Carter; fight clubs; IKEA

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:50Read transcript
  • Brad Pitt is not at Apex because the movie was not that successful.
  • Ed Norton is at Apex: this rounds out his six-movie run, and he has arguably never been as big a star since, unlike Pitt.
  • Fincher's Apex is still The Social Network; Generation X is a no.
  • Rosie O'Donnell is a maybe, with her peak placed later in her feud on The View.
  • Movie twists peaked this year, with this, The Sixth Sense and Blair Witch, before the internet could spoil them.
  • Helena Bonham Carter is a yes, though still not loved in this movie.
  • The Pixies are a no, peaking around 91; the ending song started a trend of closing with a pop song.
  • IKEA is at Apex in the late 90s.
  • Unreliable narrators are a no despite enjoying the device in this, Memento and Goodfellas.
  • Fight clubs definitely peaked then; blown-up apartments probably not; Jared Leto no; Meatloaf peaked in the 70s with Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

Picking Nits

Too little facial damage; mismatched Tyler injuries; Marla staying; police inaction

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:58Read transcript
  • There should be far more facial damage, such as broken orbital bones leaving double vision.
  • Tyler's face damage does not match the narrator's; the twist is less important than The Sixth Sense's.
  • Why Marla stays with this maniac is questioned, as is what she does besides stealing laundromat clothes to sell.
  • Police do not shut down the house, though cops are in the fight clubs and Project Mayhem.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Narrator's name is Jack; anti-hero origins; MMA ruining Fight Club; Fight Club doping; Reddit and Twitter replacing Fight Club; NBA players in Fight Club; Tyler Durden cult of personality

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:21Read transcript
  • The narrator's name is considered answered as Jack, per the original screenplay, Norton's commentary and press materials.
  • The movie did not create the anti-hero, since most viewers see Norton's character as a nice guy.
  • MMA training would have ruined Fight Club by 2004, with chokes replacing punches; a doping controversy and a Players' Tribune retirement are joked about.
  • Reddit and Twitter absorbed the space for cultish devotion and anonymous fighting.
  • Famous players could join; Kevin Durant, Kyrie, Bobby Portis and a Balkan fight club are joked about.
  • The Trump-Tyler Durden cult-of-personality parallel: tapping loneliness and offering an alternate path that leads nowhere.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:12Read transcript
  • Pitt wins: a rock-star performance where the movie jumps whenever he is on screen; Norton or Fincher would be heard.
  • With Norton as bronze, the choice is between Pitt and Fincher, and Pitt needed it more.
  • A case exists for Fincher, whose meticulous set dressing made it a film only he could make, but Pitt's iconic 90s performance lifted his career.
  • Damon could have played either part, and Crowe could have done Tyler, but no modern actor would gamble their career like this.
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More from the conversation

A Ringer plug promotes Ringer Films' Woodstock 99 documentary on HBO, described as the reason for doing this episode now; a trailer cold open follows.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:19Read transcript
Seeing it in the theater without having read the book, the reveal that Norton was both characters was mind-blowing and prompted reading the book afterward; Fight Club was held out of the 1999 season on Luminary for the right time.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:29Read transcript
The movie is called a fascinating flashpoint between taking something seriously and taking it literally, with its conventional wisdom shifting several times across generations.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:10Read transcript
Columbine and Woodstock 99 happened after filming but before release, making angry young men a new narrative so the satire felt less like satire.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:30Read transcript
Art is supposed to reflect the moment, and Fight Club captured a post-Generation X shift that was happening in real time.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:24Read transcript
The film is framed as a bridge between early-90s alternative culture (Linklater, Nirvana, Pearl Jam) and the unarticulated rage and nihilism of 1999 (Limp Biscuit, Maxim).
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:49Read transcript
Woodstock 99 fascinated them because things fell apart over three days amid a disenfranchised generation, early internet message boards and a weak moment for rock music.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:21Read transcript
The movie was loved in the theater, though a little too long; critics battered it and it underperformed until the DVD in 2000 gave it a second life on cable.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:31Read transcript
Its pop-culture hold is said to have faded in the 2010s, unlike Shawshank, Almost Famous, Boogie Nights or Goodfellas.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:08Read transcript
Some viewers see it as celebrating the masculine aggression it depicts; the have-your-cake-and-eat-it problem of making violence look cool while critiquing it is compared to Goodfellas.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:28Read transcript
Art has become more literal and morally unambiguous; a movie splitting audiences 50/50 between atrocity and masterpiece has not happened in a while.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:30Read transcript
The movie spawned actual fight clubs; watching the crew cheer news footage of their bombings felt cool in 1999 but alarming in 2021.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:07Read transcript
David Feard's 2019 Rolling Stone piece on the 20th anniversary is quoted on how collapsing buildings, two wars, the 2008 crash and a toxic creed changed how the film reads.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:50Read transcript
Chuck Polonik's 1996 novel is said to be faithfully adapted, possibly improved by the film; two Tyler Durden quotes about the middle children of history and advertising frame the themes.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:27Read transcript
A favorite line, about fathers as models for God, is tied to a generation raised with more common divorce and empty consumerism; Tyler's army is office drones, waiters and valets.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:37Read transcript
Office Space, Austin Powers' mini Starbucks and the film's IKEA catalog scene show late-90s art reacting to corporate marketing.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:21Read transcript
Andrew Kevin Walker, Fincher, Pitt and Norton revised the script together; a conversation about the rebranded Volkswagen Beetle captured the idea of a generation being sold sterile nostalgia.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:28Read transcript
The early-90s aversion to selling out, such as licensing songs to commercials, is contrasted with today's seamless product integration, including in podcasts.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:13Read transcript
Reality Bites and Pearl Jam's retreat from fame illustrate the 1989-95 don't-sell-out ethos.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:49Read transcript
Pandemic-era shopping for soccer-club baseball hats is offered as proof the movie's consumerism critique is prophetic; the baseball card boom is said to have similar roots.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:53Read transcript
The 96-99 stretch produced new stars like Pitt and Norton and filmmakers from Tarantino and Fincher to Soderberg, Spike Jones, West Anderson and PTA; anticipation for Fight Club was high, making the disappointment strange.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:46Read transcript
Middle-aged critics of the time are suggested to have been turned off by the nihilism and by the suggestion Tyler had good points.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:46Read transcript
Laura Ziskin optioned the novel for $10,000 and hired Jim Ewells; Norton asked if it would be a comedy and Fincher said that was the point.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:24Read transcript
Norton's heavy involvement and Fincher shooting three times the usual film may explain Norton's reputation for being difficult.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:50Read transcript
The filmmakers aimed for this generation's Rebel Without a Cause or The Graduate, with advertising as the core target; the premise is only partially accepted.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:20Read transcript
Middle age brings resignation to ad-saturated experiences like NBA Finals broadcasts, though at the time the punk-rock view that it all sucks felt right.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:33Read transcript
The 90s had a pre-internet loneliness and tribal isolation, now replaced by a groupthink era; a bunch of aimless men together rarely produces a good result.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:39Read transcript
The film fed a late-90s urge to take physical risks to feel something, compared with Jackass, bungee jumping, the Attitude Era and early UFC.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:58Read transcript
Someone telling you everything is fake and only they see the truth is called seductive, and linked to the present moment.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:34Read transcript
Fincher wanted a coming-of-age film like The Graduate for people in their 30s; Norton described Generation X as the first raised on television.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:34Read transcript
Columbine caused a delay; the Venice premiere had the festival head walk out at the grade-school line, and Pitt told Norton it was the best movie he would ever be in (from Brian Raftery's book).
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:32Read transcript
Rosie O'Donnell attacked the movie on her talk show and spoiled the twist; ten years later the New York Times called it the defining cult movie of its time, and the DVD sold 6 million copies in a decade.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:04Read transcript
With a roughly $60 million budget, it is still considered a cult movie: new-Hollywood ideas with blockbuster filmmaking chops, shot with Fincher's texture.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:53Read transcript
After a bad Alien 3 experience, Fincher insisted on real money; the $63 million budget with two major stars sits in the fake-indie territory of 94-99, like Pulp Fiction.
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:50Read transcript
Pitt's 95-99 run (Seven through Meet Joe Black) made him A-list but not yet fulfilled; he needed this movie more than anyone.
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:28Read transcript
Pitt learned he could be a movie star without always being the leading man; he floats through this movie like a ghost, too hot and too cool to be real.
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:22Read transcript
Meet Joe Black was his last try at being Redford; afterward his career became more interesting with Fight Club, Ocean's 11, Troy and Moneyball.
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:19Read transcript
An informal ranking of Pitt's best parts includes Moneyball, Ocean's 11, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and this one, with True Romance possibly fifth.
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:15Read transcript
Norton's first six movies (Primal Fear, the Woody Allen movie, The People vs. Larry Flint, American History X, Rounders, Fight Club) are praised for batting average; 25th Hour is called his best performance.
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:57Read transcript
Pitt's tabloid life with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston made him a huge story, rivaled only by Affleck.
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:58Read transcript
The film got only a sound-editing Oscar nomination; retroactively Norton would take Sean Penn's Best Actor spot and Pitt would bump Haley Joel or Michael Kane in Supporting Actor.
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:17Read transcript
Fincher missed a directing nomination despite this being the ultimate Fincher movie; Cider House Rules is the forgettable Oscar movie while Fight Club is discussed constantly.
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:30Read transcript
Seven, The Game and Fight Club are framed as Fincher's escalating statements, establishing him as a generational director; season tickets after Seven.
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:49Read transcript
Soderberg's film-versus-movie distinction is applied to Fincher, who makes entertaining pulp art; Fincher's filmography is listed and compared with the more prolific Soderberg.
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:42Read transcript
Fincher is said to edge Soderberg on the scorecards because he made The Social Network, called the best movie of the 21st century.
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:51Read transcript
The film made about $101 million on a $63 million budget, only $37 million domestic, considered a disaster.
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:26Read transcript
Tyler's line that only after losing everything are we free to do anything is joked to have been said after Grantland folded (ASR 'Grant Landfolded') and when calling Colangelo (ASR 'Calangelo') for comment.
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:40Read transcript
1996-99 is called an awesome stretch of movies and 1999 a bizarre year of the rising internet, Y2K fears and pushed boundaries in which America started to unravel unnoticed; the Woodstock 99 documentary also captures it.
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:39Read transcript
Brian's book about 1999 and his podcast on Gene and Roger are recommended.
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:42Read transcript
1999 felt momentous only in hindsight: the NBA lockout, Pedro vs. the Yankees, the steroid boom, the 99 Rams, The Sopranos and Oz, but a terrible music year with the shortest favorite-songs playlist.
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:42Read transcript
The capstone point is that daily life and purchases make it hard to recognize momentous change as it happens.
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:37Read transcript
This is podcast 197 on the feed; a third Heat episode is planned for the 200th around August 16, with guests like Michael Mann under discussion and listener suggestions invited.
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:11Read transcript
The closing credits the podcast producers as Craig Coralback (ASR) and Kyle Creighton (ASR) and promotes the Woodstock 99 HBO premiere on July 23.
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:09Read transcript