Thriller
Synopsis
Two young professionals (Brad Pitt, Edward Norton) create an underground club where men can compete in hand-to-hand combat.
Cast: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf , Jared Leto, Eion Bailey, Joon Kim, Evan Mirand
Producer(s): Taurus Film, Fox 2000 Pictures, New Regency Pictures, Art Linson Productions
Crew: Director - David Fincher, Writer (Novel) - Chuck Palahniuk, Writer (Screenplay) - Jim Uhls, Producer - Ross Bell, Producer - Ceán Chaffin, Associate Producer - John Dorsey, Producer - Art Linson, Executive Producer - Arnon Milchan, Original Music - John King, Original Music - Michael Simpson, Cinematographer - Jeff Cronenweth, Film Editor - Jim Haygood, Casting - Laray Mayfield, Production Designer - Alex McDowell, Art Direction - Chris Gorak, Set Decoration - Jay Hart, Costume Designer - Michael Kaplan
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Release Date: 10/15/1999
Running Time: 139 minutes
OFFICIAL SITE
Production Notes:
The following was provided to Yahoo! Movies by Twentieth Century Fox:
FIGHT CLUB
You are not your job. You are not how much you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your khakis.
You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.
What happens first is you can't sleep. What happens then is there's a gun in your mouth.
And what happens next is you meet Tyler Durden. Let me tell you about Tyler. He had a plan. In Tyler we trusted.
Tyler says the things you own, end up owning you. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. Fight Club represents that kind of freedom.
First rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club. Second rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club.
Tyler says self-improvement is masturbation. Tyler says self-destruction might be the answer.
ABOUT THE CAST...
BRAD PITT (Tyler Durden) has emerged as one of the most prominent actors of his generation as a result of performances in such recent films as "Meet Joe Black," "Seven Years in Tibet," "Legends of the Fall," "Seven" and "Twelve Monkeys."
Pitt's role as the seductive hitchhiker in Ridley Scott's controversial "Thelma & Louise" first brought him to national attention. He then went on to star as the psychopathic serial killer in "Kalifornia," the charismatic-but-doomed Paul MacLean in Robert Redford's "A River Runs Through It," and the bloodsucking Louis in Neil Jordan's "Interview with the Vampire."
Pitt was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his work as Tristan, the passionate, untamable brother in "Legends of the Fall," and also nominated for a Academy AwardÃ’ and Golden Globe, which he won, for his co-starring role in Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys."
Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Pitt grew up in Springfield, Missouri and attended the University of Missouri at Columbia where he majored in journalism with a focus on advertising. Immediately before graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to study advertising and graphic design, but instead pursued an acting career, studying with Roy London. Soon thereafter he began securing roles in various television projects, including the FOX series "Glory Days," HBO's "The Image" and the critically acclaimed television movie "Too Young to Die."
On film, Pitt also starred in "Johnny Suede," which won a 1992 Golden Leopard Award for Best Picture at the Locarno Film Festival, Ralph Bakshi's "Cool World," Tony Scott's "True Romance," Barry Levinson's "Sleepers" and Alan J. Pakula's "The Devil's Own."
EDWARD NORTON (Narrator) made his feature film debut in "Primal Fear" opposite Richard Gere, for which he received an Academy AwardÃ’ nomination and Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor.
He was next seen in Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You," opposite Drew Barrymore and Goldie Hawn. This was followed by Milos Forman's "The People Vs. Larry Flynt" opposite Woody Harrelson and Courtney Love. For his work in these three films, he received the award for best supporting actor from the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics, the Boston Film Critics and the Texas Film Critics.
Last year, Norton was seen in two films: John Dahl's "Rounders," opposite Matt Damon, and "American History X," for which he received an Academy AwardÃ’ nomination for best actor.
Norton recently started production on the romantic comedy "Keeping the Faith" which he is directing, producing and staffing opposite Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman. Disney will release the film next year.
Norton is on the Board of the Signature Theater Company with whom he first performed in the 1994 premiere of Edward Albee's "Fragments." He also serves on the New York Board of the Enterprise Foundation, which works to create decent, affordable housing for low-income families.
HELENA BONHAM CARTER (Marla Singer) last year starred in "Theory of Flight" opposite Kenneth Branagh. She was multi-nominated for her performance in "Wings of the Dove," for which she received best actress nominations from the Academy AwardsÃ’, Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild. Bonham Carter was cited as Best Actress by Canada's Genie Awards for her performance in "Margaret's Museum," and received an Emmy nomination for the miniseries "Merlin."
Born and raised in London, Bonham Carter was educated at one of that city's foremost schools, Westminster. Director Trevor Nunn persuaded her to postpone her university studies in order to star in his film "Lady Jane," the story of the doomed Lady Nunn, who ruled England for only nine days before being beheaded.
On the last day of shooting Nunn's film, James Ivory offered her the ingenue lead in "A Room with a View." It was the first of a series of roles in E.M. Forster adaptations that would bring Bonham Carter international acclaim, followed by "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and "Howards End." She played Ophelia in Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet," opposite Mel Gibson; and then portrayed Elizabeth in "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," directed by Kenneth Branagh. She then appeared as Woody Allen's wife in "Mighty Aphrodite."
Bonham Carter has also sought a variety of contemporary roles in features and television films. Besides "Merlin," she has appeared as a victim of anorexia in "Getting It Right," a stripper in "Dancing Queen," and the widow of Lee Harvey Oswald in "Fatal Deception." Other television credits include "Arms and the Man," "Beatrix Potter," "A Hazard of Hearts," as well as guest appearances on "Miami Vice."
Bonham Carter's stage appearances include "Woman in White," "The Chalk Garden," "House of Bernarda Alba" and "Trelawny of the Wells."
Known throughout the world for his great musical talents, MEAT LOAF ADAY (Robert Paulsen) has also enjoyed a prodigious acting career. He will next be seen starring opposite Melanie Griffith in "Crazy in Alabama," directed by Antonio Banderas, and with Glenn Close in the upcoming television movie "Ballad of Lucy Whipple."
Meat Loaf became known to national audiences as Eddie in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," which he also performed on Broadway. His additional films include "Black Dog," with Patrick Swayze, "The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag," "Wayne's World" and "Leap of Faith," among others.
He also performed on Broadway in "Hair," "Shakespeare in the Park" and "The National Lampoon Show." His off-Broadway appearances include "As You Like It" and "Othello."
Originally from Dallas, Texas, Meat Loaf began his career in Los Angeles and made his chart debut in 1971. The notorious 1977 album Bat Out of Hell has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and is the number three selling record of all time. His 1993 sequel, Bat Out of Hell II: Back to Hell, earned him a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance for "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," and was one of the biggest selling records of the year (selling over 18 million copies worldwide).
Meat Loaf simultaneously just released a new album, Storytellers, in partnership with VH-1, and his first autobiography, To Hell and Back.
JARED LETO (Angel Face) recently wrapped starring roles in Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" and James Cox's "A Leonard Cohen Afterworld."
Over the past year, Leto has been fleshing out a wide range of supporting roles in several distinctive projects including Mary Herron's "American Psycho," James Mangold's "Girl Interrupted" with Winona Ryder, Adam Collis' "Sunset Strip," produced by Art Linson, and James Toback's "Black and White" with Robert Downey, Jr.
His other recent film credits include "The Thin Red Line," "Urban Legend," "Switchback," "Prefontaine" and "How to Make an American Quilt."
Leto began his acting career staffing opposite Claire Danes on the critically-acclaimed television series "My So Called Life."
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS...
DAVID FINCHER (Director) most recently directed "The Game," staffing Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. Prior to that, he directed "Seven," a stylishly dark drama starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. A critical and box office hit, "Seven" received an OscarÃ’ nomination for best editing. He made his feature film debut as the director of "Alien3."
Fincher co-founded Propaganda Films in 1986, quickly setting a new standard in the music video and commercial industries with a revolutionary sense of style and sophistication.
JIM UHLS (Screenplay) makes his feature film writing debut with "Fight Club." He attended Drake University and UCLA, studying writing for stage and screen at the latter. He has several projects in development, including "Last Train To Memphis," an adaptation of the acclaimed biography of Elvis Presley's early years, "Trick Monkey," about a young magician and his mentor, and "Hard Hearts," to which Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster are attached to both star in and produce.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK is the author of the novel Fight Club, on which the film is based. His debut work garnered strong reviews: Writing in the Village Voice, Hillary Johnson claims that what drives Palahniuk's novel is what she calls "the emasculation of Western civilization." Citing a story in The Economist, Johnson writes of the "imminent large-scale social and economic obsolescence of the male of the species. Men are failing at work, at school and in families, in theory because the modem knowledge and skill-oriented world is basically testosterone-intolerant. While men's strength and aggression were useful in establishing the modem world, they're an impediment to its smooth day-to-day operation, a task better suited to the instincts and behaviors of females."
Palahniuk expands on that notion. "We are a nation of physical animals who have forgotten how much we enjoy being that. We are cushioned by this kind of make-believe, unreal world and we have no idea what we can survive because we are never challenged or tested."
Palahniuk has written two subsequent books, Survivor: A Novel and Invisible Monsters: A Novel.
In the 20 years since he produced his first motion picture, ART LINSON (Producer) has distinguished himself in Hollywood by developing scripts and stories that attract the highest caliber talent, resulting in some of the most successful and admired motion pictures of the last two decades. Linson's credits range from such unusual classics as "Car Wash" and "Melvin and Howard" (winner of two Academy AwardsÃ’, for best screenplay and best supporting actress) to commercials hits such as "The Untouchables," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "Dick Tracy" and "Scrooged," to the critically acclaimed "Casualties of War," "This Boy's Life" and "Heat."
Born in Chicago, Linson grew up in Hollywood. He attended the University of California at Berkeley in 1960 and finished his degree at University of California at Los Angeles. He graduated from UCLA Law school in 1967, but opted not to practice law. Instead, Linson took a job in the music business for a brief period in the 1970s. He ran his own company, Spin Dizzy Records, recording and managing such rock musicians as Spirit and Nils Lofgren. During his stint in the music business, Linson's interest in movies expanded and he ventured into the film industry with music-themed movies like "Car Wash" and "American Hot Wax," a movie based on famed 1950s rock 'n' roll disc jockey Alan Freed.
Linson's pursuit of imaginative material led him to collaborate with many of Hollywood's finest screenwriters, including David Mamet, Bo Goldman, David Rabe, Cameron Crowe, Robert Getchell. and the Charles brothers, the industry's most prominent directors, such as Brian De Palma, David Fincher, Michael Mann, Jonathan Demme, Cameron Crowe and Mike Newell, and many of its top stars, including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Murray and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In addition, in 1995, Linson published his first book entitled A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood.
CEAN CHAFFIN (Producer) was the first female producer from the commercials unit at Propaganda Films to segue into feature films.
A native Californian, Chaffin worked as a producer for several commercial directors. She handled a diverse group of accounts that took her to 13 countries, before accepting a job on a Japanese Coca-Cola ad that was directed by David Fincher.
That project led to a seven-year association with Fincher on such notable music videos as the Rolling Stone's Grammy Award-winning "Love is Strong." Independent of Fincher, she earned a second Grammy for Michael Jackson's "Scream." Her first feature with Fincher was "The Game."
ROSS GRAYSON BELL's (Producer) current projects include the upcoming "Lambs of God" for Fox 2000 Pictures, "The Sky Is Falling," and a dance/musical for Twentieth Century Fox called "One Hit Wonders." On the executive producing front, Bell put Morgan Freeman together with Gene Hackman on the upcoming "Under Suspicion," directed by Stephen Hopkins, and is also working on a film of the Tennessee Williams play "One Ann."
Prior to becoming an independent producer, Bell was partnered with Joshua Donen in Atman Entertainment. In. 1995, the company produced "The Great White Hype" for Twentieth Century Fox. Bell started his career in his native Australia as an assistant director on the television series "Mission: Impossible" and "Dolphin Cove," and the feature film "Sweet Talker."
ARNON MILCHAN (Executive Producer) is one of the most prolific and successful independent film producers in the world. He is the founder of Regency Enterprises, which co-produced "Fight Club" with Fox 2000 Pictures.
Milchan's recent film productions include "Entrapment," starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, "The Negotiator," "City of Angels," "L.A. Confidential" (which received two Academy AwardsÃ’ and nine nominations), "Devil's Advocate," "A Time to Kill," "Tin Cup" and "Heat." His other production credits include "Pretty Woman," "Brazil," "Once Upon a Time in America," "The War of the Roses," "Under Siege" and the critically-acclaimed "JFK," which was nominated for eight Academy AwardsÃ’ .
Milchan's upcoming projects include "Squelch" (working title), a hip thriller from John Dahl starring Leelee Sobieski, Steve Zahn and Paul Walker, "Big Momma's House" staffing Martin Lawrence, and the psychological thriller "Crowded Room" to be directed by F. Gary Gray, among others.
JEFF CRONENWETH (Director of Photography) reunites with David Fincher after their initial collaboration on "Seven" and his debut as a feature director of photography on the second unit of "The Game." He learned his trade working in the camera department as an operator and camera assistant on features such as "Something to Talk About," "Only You," "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "Sleepless in Seattle," "State of Grace," "Chaplin," "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Gardens of Stone."
JAMES HAYGOOD (Film Editor) began working with David Fincher in 1985 when both became active in the burgeoning music video market. Their collaboration includes Madonna's video "Vogue" and The Rolling Stones' "Love is Strong," as well as numerous commercials for Nike, Levis, AT & T and Budweiser. His first feature was David Fincher's "The Game."
Haygood has numerous commercial and music video awards and in 1992 he formed Superior Assembly, a commercial editorial company located in Santa Monica.
English born ALEX McDOWELL (Production Designer) is now working on Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," a futuristic police drama to be released by Twentieth Century Fox, and recently worked with Mel Gibson on "Fahrenheit 451," which is in development.
McDowell won considerable attention and acclaim for his beautifully detailed and atmospheric sets for "The Crow" (Alex Proyas) and "The Crow: City of Angels" (Tim Pope), and for the psychotropic settings of Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
He first came to note as a much sought-after designer of music videos and television commercials, working in both fields with such directors as Steve Barron, Marco Brambilla, Jesse Dylan, Spike Lee, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Tim Pope, John Singleton, Tarsem, Frank Oz and David Fincher. His initial entry into the world of feature films was the hit horror film "The Lawnmower Man," directed by Brett Leonard.
McDowell was born in Borneo, and lived in Indonesia for seven years. He attended Quaker boarding schools in England and later studied Fine Arts at the Central School of Art in London. He worked as a graphic designer for the music industry and then made the leap into designing music videos, which led to his work in feature films.
MICHAEL KAPLAN (Costume Designer) first collaborated with director David Fincher on "Seven" and "The Game." His other noteworthy credits include his influential design for "Flashdance," as well as "Against All Odds," "Big Business," "Malice," "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and "Armageddon." His early work as a costume designer included Ridley Scott's futuristic "Blade Runner," a film for which Kaplan received the British Academy Award.
Kaplan was born in Philadelphia and studied drawing and sculpture at the Philadelphia College of Art before moving to Los Angeles in 1976.
ROB BOTTIN (Special Make-up Effects Supervisor) is a master of his art. His most recent credits include "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Deep Rising," "Mimic," "Devil's Advocate" and "Mission: Impossible." Other credits include "Seven," "RoboCop," "RoboCop 2," "RoboCop 3," "Basic Instinct," "Bugsy," "Total Recall," for which he was awarded a Special Achievement Academy AwardÃ’ for outstanding visual effects, "Innerspace," "The Witches of Eastwick," and "Legend," for which he received an OscarÃ’ nomination.
Bottin started as an apprentice at the age of 14, working on "Star Wars," "King Kong" (1976), "The Fury," "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and other fantasies. He formed his own company at 18 and went on to create the groundbreaking special effects and makeup for "The Howling," on which he was also the associate producer, transforming a man into a seven foot werewolf by pioneering never-before-seen, live-action, state-of-the-art animatronic effects. For "The Thing" (1982), Bottin once again pushed the limits by creating wildly-imaginative unprecedented live-action creature effects which required no "trick photography," changing traditional notions of special make-up effects forever.
Michael Simpson and John King, aka THE DUST BROTHERS (Music), have used technology and an encyclopedic knowledge of music to carve out a niche for themselves in the music business. As one of the hottest producer teams in the industry, nearly all their collaborations have been commercial and critical successes, adding to their growing collection of gold and platinum records.
Using a Macintosh-based recording system that lets them record directly to their hard drives, the duo's cut-and-paste style continues to push the boundaries of music in general and hip hop in particular. Their producing talents put them atop the A-list for bands looking for a remix of their music.
Starting in the mid-'80s as college DJs hosting the first all-rap radio show in Southern California, Simpson and King quickly found themselves producing music for Delicious Vinyl, the record label of acts like Tone-Loc and Young MC. An unexpected studio visit from the Beastie Boys resulted in one of the most influential rap records of all time: Paul's Boutique. Pioneering the use of digital samples, the music collages on that album mixed rich soundscapes and funky beats from hundreds of different records, giving the album a historic scope that's still being copied.
As rap became increasingly corporate and more formulaic, the Dust Brothers moved on to acts more suited to their edgy and diverse interests. Collaborating closely with Beck, the duo helped the folk-hipster create Odelay, a quirky album that quickly found its way onto music critics "best of '96" lists.
Since then, they've moved on to more mainstream projects, like teen sensations Hanson with their number one single "MMM Bop" and the first singles from the new Rolling Stones album, while continuing to find time for less commercial projects.
The Dust Brothers have been working on their forthcoming album to be released on their own label, Ideal Records.
TM & (c) 1999 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.
