Fight Club (1999) on Netflix
An insomniac recall specialist finds relief at support groups until Marla Singer, another impostor, unsettles him. He meets soap salesman Tyler Durden, and their fights draw other men.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb8.8/102,661,970 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes81%
Trailer
Plot summary
The narrator, who works as a recall specialist for a car company and travels constantly, has not slept in months. His doctor sends him to a testicular cancer support group, where crying in the arms of Robert "Bob" Paulsen lets him rest, and he begins attending meetings of many kinds. Marla Singer, who is also faking her way into them, disturbs his arrangement, so the two agree to divide the week between them. On a business flight he meets Tyler Durden, a soap salesman. When his apartment is destroyed in an explosion, he calls Tyler, who lets him move into his dilapidated house on the condition that the narrator hit him. The two begin to fight for pleasure, and other men join in, forming a club in the basement of a bar.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fight Club (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- 20th Century Fox offered Norton $2.5 million for Fight Club, but he could not accept immediately because he still owed Paramount Pictures a film for a smaller salary under an old contract. He later satisfied that obligation with his role in the 2003 film The Italian Job.
- Producer Ross Bell met with Russell Crowe about the role of Tyler Durden, while producer Art Linson, who joined the project late, met with Brad Pitt about the same role. Linson was the senior producer of the two, so the studio sought to cast Pitt instead of Crowe.
- Courtney Love claimed she was cast as Marla Singer but was fired after rejecting Pitt's pitch for a film about her late husband, Kurt Cobain. The studio wanted Reese Witherspoon, but Fincher felt she was too young, and Sarah Michelle Gellar turned it down over Buffy the Vampire Slayer scheduling.
- During filming the projected budget escalated to $67 million. New Regency's head and executive producer Arnon Milchan petitioned Fincher to reduce costs by at least $5 million; Fincher refused, so Milchan threatened that New Regency would withdraw financing.
- For the unnamed Narrator, the studio desired a "sexier marquee name" such as Matt Damon to increase the film's commercial prospects, and also considered Sean Penn. Fincher instead considered Edward Norton, based on his performance in the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt.
- Producers Josh Donen and Ross Bell arranged unpaid screen readings with actors; the initial reading lasted six hours, so they cut sections and recorded the shorter script. Bell sent the tape to Fox 2000 head Laura Ziskin, who bought the rights from Palahniuk for $10,000.
- Bell contacted four directors. He considered Peter Jackson the best choice, but Jackson was too busy filming The Frighteners in New Zealand; Bryan Singer received the book but did not read it, and Danny Boyle read it but pursued another film.
- Fincher pursued Radiohead for the score, but singer Thom Yorke declined as he was recovering from the stress of promoting the band's 1997 album OK Computer. Fincher instead commissioned the breakbeat duo Dust Brothers, whose score used drum loops, electronic scratches and computerised samples.
