Brad Pitt has a lot of great films on his resume, but perhaps 'Fight Club' inspires the most conversation. When the 1999 film first came out, many critics thought it was an abomination. And yet, the film built an incredibly strong fanbase... One that was almost cult-like.
Who would have thought that such a groundbreaking film about a secret organization of men who fight each other was actually inspired by a real-life fight?
The Impact Of Fight Club
Thanks to an excellent oral history of the creation of 'Fight Club' by Men's Health, we've learned a lot about the inception of this cult-classic that brought Edward Norton and Brad Pitt together.
When the film was first released, it only made $37 million domestically. Internationally, it made the exact same amount as its budget... $63 million... So, yeah, it's safe to say that it wasn't the biggest hit in the world. But this is the same a Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which also became a cult-hit. In fact, 'Fight Club' has become one of the many cult-classics that are worthy of re-watching over and over again. However, it's not entirely fair to classify 'Fight Club' as JUST a cult-movie. After all, in 2008, Empire Magazine listed Tyler Durden as one of the greatest movie characters of all time and it's sat in the top 15/10 best movies on IMDB for years.
Despite the vicious perspectives of the majority of the critics, 'Fight Club' overcame and built a massive fanbase of anti-consumerists, influenced multiple blockbuster and independent movies, launched director David Fincher's career to new heights, and started thousands of memes and parodies. ... Basically, anything that starts with "The first rule of ___ Club is..."
But David Fincher's excellent direction and Brad, Edward, and Helen Bonham Carter's stellar performances aside... the success of 'Fight Club' is owed to Chuck Palahniuk... The writer of the original novel.
The Book Was Inspired By An Actual Fight
Chuck Palahniuk's novel started a discussion about masculinity and consumerism in the 21st century. But many fans don't know that the writer of the 1996 novel was inspired by a camping trip gone wrong. This camping trip was ruined by a physical altercation that ultimately was the basis of the theme and the story of a book that ultimately nobody wanted to publish and certainly nobody wanted to make into a movie.
While on a weekend camping trip, Chuck Palahniuk got into a fight with some nearby campers after he asked them to turn down their music. The following Monday, Chuck returned to his office job with some very noticeable wounds... But none of his co-workers mentioned it. In fact, they all avoided the subject entirely...
"I realized that if you looked bad enough, people wouldn’t want to know what you did in your spare time," Chuck Palahniuk said. "They don’t want to know the bad things about you."
This is how the idea for 'Fight Club' was born.
But the fighting didn't stop there... In fact, Chuck Palahniuk found himself in a number of other fights while keeping his job as a diesel fitter in Portland, Oregon. Many of these fights inspired more stories within the book he was writing simultaneously.
When he was pitching the book, he found that most of the publishers were repulsed by the idea. Even the publisher he did end up getting, VW Norton, wasn't too enthusiastic about his concept. In fact, they only offered an advance of $7,000 for it. But Chuck was so eager to get his work out there that he took it.
"It’s what publishers call 'kiss off' money," Chuck explained to Men's Health. "They don’t want to alienate the editor who wants to acquire the book, but they want to offend the writer enough that the writer walks away from the deal."
A similar thing was happening after the book was floating around Hollywood...
"The [the book] was soon going round Hollywood," screenwriter Jim Uhls said. "I got a call from a film exec friend called Elizabeth Robinson. She said, It’s never going to be made, we’re not going to make it but you’ll like it. I read it, fell in love with it, and I too thought, This will never be made into a movie. Then I heard that it had gone to these guys called Ross Grayson Bell and Josh Donen."
The two producers were the ones who knew that David Fincher who had already directed 'Alien 3' and 'Seven'.
"Josh Donen sent me the book. I read it in one night and I flipped out," David Fincher said. "I was laughing so hard that I just said to myself, I’ve got to be involved with this."
Soon after, David Fincher and Jim Uhls got in touch. They knew each other from years past, so a collaboration made sense. As for Chuck Palahniuk, well, he was trying not to get too excited about the idea of his book being made into a movie. After all, most book options never result in much more than that. But luckily for Chuck, his movie was made and it left a massive impact on pop culture and an entire generation of movie-goers.