what would you do after a publisher
rejects your novel for being too
disturbing well if you're Chuck panic
you would write something even more
disturbing and submit it while working a
Freightliner a truck company as a diesel
mechanic Palomeque regularly carried a
notepad with him while he worked in
additions to details about fixing
vehicles the book contains snippets of
panics first published novel Fight Club
Fight Club placed a mirror in front of
the concept of masculinity in the 1990s
where males instead of being sent off to
war and take up arms in defense of
something worth fighting for
were encouraged to take on cushy jobs
and embrace commercialism with nothing
motivating men to step out of their
comfort zone they became caged animals
tamed but still with feral instincts
palnick story acknowledges the men's
movement and how every man is vowing
forces from two sides one to abide by
societal rules and one to break it yet
without the adaptation the story of
Fight Club and the influence it would
have on young men of that generation
wouldn't have materialized today we'll
explore the story of Fight Club and how
it went from Chuck Palahniuk debut novel
into the cult classic it is today and
how it continues to stay relevant after
20 years let's talk about Fight Club
palnick began writing fiction in his
early 30s after attending workshops led
by American writer Tom Spann Bauer it
all began as an attempt to meet new
friends but he ended up getting inspired
by the fiction form and spend our
encouraged him to perfect his
minimalistic writing style Tom's been
bauer describes his teaching style as
dangerous writing saying on his website
description I must listen for the
heartbreak the rage the shame the fear
that is hidden within the words then I
must respect where each individual
student is in relation to his or her
broken heart and act accordingly when my
relationship with a student is solid and
when the student has a strong foothold
in his or her writing I bring out my
jungle red fingernails play the devil's
advocate be the bad cop the irreverent
fool whatever it takes to teach
perseverance self trust and discipline
with that palnick pursued his craft
head-on and while holding a job where he
found time to write during work at the
laundromat at the gym and while waiting
for his 1985 Toyota pickup truck at the
shop invisible monster originally titled
manifesto was the first novel palnick
tried to get published years before
Fight Club it was shot down because the
publishers didn't have an appetite for a
story about a disfigured model with
multiple identities powered by indignant
persistence pal next set off to write a
novel even further from the norm
during a camping trip Pollock was
involved in an altercation that left him
bruised and swollen upon returning to
work he realized that none of his
co-workers acknowledged his visible
injuries or showed any interest in his
personal life that indifference from
others was a spark for Fight Club with
the journalism background palnick claims
that all his stories begin with the
truth and through his boredom he infuses
it with his imagination Mike clubs
project Manhattan is loosely based on
the cacophony Society where members are
self designated and gatherings are ran
pitched and sponsored these events
usually involve costumes and pranks as
well as venturing into areas that are
restricted palnick is a member and was a
victim of a prank once when the members
of the cacophony Society showed up
during one of his readings in San
Francisco in 1995 Fight Club a seven
page short story was published in a
compilation entitled pursuit of
happiness these seven pages ended up
being chapter six in the full-length
novel excited by the proposition of
finally being a published author palnick
sold Fight Club to publisher W Norton
for $6,000 on August 17 1996 Fight Club
was published it was a positive
reception and one ponic the 1997 Pacific
Northwest bookseller Association award
and the Oregon Book Award for Best novel
critics praised panic for his unique
writing style caustic outrageous funny
violent and unsettling however many
found issues in the novel's
heteronormative themes and the violent
aspects of the plot yet even with the
publicity the hard covers for Fight Club
didn't perform greatly in sales with
only 5,000 copies sold in the re-release
of Fight Club in 1999 and 2004 palnick
says that all he did was update The
Great Gatsby he describes the two story
as being apostolic fiction we're
surviving apostle tells the story of his
hero in both tails there are two male
characters and one female and in the end
the hero dies even though the book
didn't make it onto any top sellers list
at the start a copy of the novel made it
to movie producers Ross Grayson Bell and
Joshua Donnan Bell remember reading the
novel and getting to the twist in the
story which caused him to reassess
everything he just read he stayed up all
night too excited to sleep
he was about to produce his first
feature film but to affirm what he felt
about Fight Club
he hired a group of actors to read the
book out
restructuring it and cutting out the
excess in the novel that couldn't be
presented in a film Bell recorded the
reading and shared it with 20th Century
Fox producer Laura Ziskin who produced
such films as pretty woman what about
Bob and as good as it gets during a
drive to Santa Barbara this can listen
to the recording that Belle shared as
the current executive of the mid budget
division of 20th Century Fox
siskins saw potential in the story of
Fight Club she herself was insertive how
to approach it
but she was confident that Belle was the
one to lead it and hired him as the
producer the film rights were Fight Club
was optioned for ten thousand dollars
and the adaptation process was on its
way
Belfer sent the novel to up-and-coming
director David O'Russell who was looking
for his next project after releasing
flirting with disaster in 1996
unfortunately or fortunately Russell
didn't understand what the story was
about and declined the offer later
Russell will admit that he obviously
didn't do a good job reading it the
manuscript made its way around town and
got rejected from directors such as
Peter Jackson who directed the
frighteners Bryan Singer who directed
the usual suspects and Danny Boyle who
directed strain spotting because of this
lack of interest the manuscript got a
bad reputation
David Fincher on the other hand was
attracted to the story at once
coming off projects such as seven and
the game Fincher was establishing
himself as a director who can apply a
unique visual style to a story with an
edgy theme while his movies to this
point were hits and misses 7 a hit the
game a miss he had come a long way from
his days of directing music videos some
notable ones including Rolling Stones
Madonna and Aerosmith Fight Club
attracted Fincher for many reasons but
it was the relatability it's a politics
story that really moved him Fincher
himself was a man in his late 30s and he
recognized the same anger evoked in the
novel where certain breed of men were
unable to evolve at the speed Society
required them to
nevertheless there was some hesitation
for Fincher to sign on with 20th Century
Fox in 1990 a lien 3 was in
pre-production and things were not going
well for franchise producer David giler
and Walter Hill and director Vincent
Ward due to creative differences Ward
would end up being fired and alien 3 a
movie with the 56 million dollar budget
and an unfinished script was now without
a director in comes 28 year old David
Fincher to save the blockbuster movie
killer and he'll found Fincher through
his music video credits specifically
Madonna's express herself and Aerosmith
Janie's got a gun and hired him for his
feature directorial debut yet it wasn't
so much saving the movie for Fincher as
it was surviving it with no history as a
movie director to back up his experience
on the set he became a puppet for the
production company even as an avid fan
of the original alien directed by Ridley
Scott and even having a cohesive story
that linked everything together the
studio refused to budge and alien 3
became a piece of cinema devoid of key
decisions from the director Fincher was
not proud of the result and he was not
happy with his experience working with
20th Century Fox
it took Fincher three years to recover
and at many points he felt as though his
career as a feature film director was
over
however 20th century opened the door to
venture when he came knocking about
Fight Club Fincher saw the movie heading
in two directions and gave the studio's
the options 1 Fight Club could be a
low-budget straight to videotape movie
or 2 it could be one with a big budget
and big stars obviously he had very
little interest in making a low-budget
movie but since alien 3 he had learned a
few tricks and used it to negotiate the
studio didn't buy it at once but weren't
read enough to give Fincher a chance
screenwriter Jim Ulis had been working
on adapting the story of Fight Club from
the beginning he received the manuscript
about the same time Fincher did from
some
he knew who worked for a production
company he was told that every studio in
Hollywood had already passed on it ulis
was blown away by the story and even
though he felt it could never be made
into a movie he thought it would be a
great achievement to be paid to adapt it
so he began to write the story was
deemed unadaptable by many as the novel
was essentially a long monologue where
ulis made a difference was building the
scenes around those key moments inside
the narrator's head slowly
ulis began to gain some interests around
20th Century Fox but what sealed it was
his attendance at a large lunch meeting
with the executives and David Fincher
Ulis sat himself strategically next to
Fincher who was somewhere between an
acquaintance and a friend it was there
during the lunch meeting where the two
talked about Fight Club and the
obstacles of making it into a film but
it was more than a conversation and ulis
knew it he was there to pitch himself
much like how Fight Club was Chuck
Palahniuk first credit as a novelist the
adaptation was Jim Ulis first credit as
a screenwriter during the late 90s
voiceovers have gone a reputation as
being a trite and uninspired technique
to deliver exposition in a movie and
many Studios wanted to avoid it however
Fincher recognized the story hinged on
the internal dialogue of the narrator
without it it would be a depressing
story and that was not what he was going
for it took Ulis and Fincher seven
months to complete the script and still
it required help from director Cameron
Crowe and screenwriter Andrew Kevin
Walker during the casting process
producer Ross Bell had Russell Crowe in
mind for the role of Tyler Durden but it
was producer art linson that began
conversation with Brad Pitt having
already worked with Fincher in seven and
the studio's desire to add a bankable
star as a lead Pitt signed on hoping to
wash the dismal failure of meet Joe
black away
there were a lot of options on the
market for someone to play the unnamed
narrator Sean Penn and Matt Damon were
top contenders but it was Edward Norton
that won the row with his aligned vision
with Fincher both Fincher and Norton saw
the film as a satire it was not an
action movie it was a comedy and Fincher
knew that norm could give the type of
wink wink comedic performance required
having seen him in this previous role in
the People vs Larry Flynt once cast the
two leading men took lessons in various
martial arts including boxing Taekwondo
and grappling Fincher wanted to cast
comedian Janeane Garofalo as the role of
Marla singer but she declined due to the
sexual aspects of the film Courtney Love
Winona Ryder and we swear the spoon were
up for consideration as well but in the
end Fincher went with Helena
bonham-carter because of her role in the
1997 romantic comedy the wing of the
Dove in a hundred and thirty-eight days
filming was completed but not without
hiccups the movie was budgeted for
twenty three million dollars and ended
up costing sixty three million dollars
there were threats made by the
executives from the partnering studio
New Regency for Fincher to reduce the
costs but he refused it was only when
the executive saw the dailies during a
three week span that they were convinced
that it was money were spending it took
over 1,500 rolls of film three times
more than the Hollywood averaged to
capture principal photography David
Fincher affirmed his reputation as a
director who liked to shoot many takes
while the movie was shot predominantly
in California there ended up being over
200 locations in addition to over 70
sets for a movie with only 300 scenes
that was a lot Fincher didn't enjoy this
aspect of the process and remedied it in
his next movie panic room in 2002 which
was shot predominantly in one location
there were disagreements on many fronts
on how to properly market Fight Club the
studio first wanted to market it as an
art film geared towards a male audience
because of its violence
when you have Brad Pitt as a star it's
hard to not push him to the front of all
your publicity materials however Fincher
resisted against that instead he decided
to film to fake public service
announcement presented by the two lead
characters the studios were not thrilled
with that creative stint and instead
spent twenty million dollars to create
materials that highlighted the movies
fight scenes and buying ad time during
viewing events dominated by the male
demographic such as WWE the job of
promoting the film was no easier for the
actors as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton
did their circuit they discovered the
difficulty of explaining the movie
without giving away the key parts none
of the marketing efforts properly
communicated what Fight Club was and
most who initially went to see it in
theaters expected to see a film about
fighting on April 20th 1999 to students
at Collin Baha'i enter their school and
murdered 12 people before turning the
guns on themselves the incident rippled
through the entertainment industry and
the studio claiming it wanted to avoid
competing with the summer blockbusters
pushed the release of the film from July
to October 15 1999 Fight Club bombed in
the box office earning only 37 million
dollars in domestic gross and 100 point
eight million dollars worldwide Fincher
left LA to Bali during the opening
weekend to escape the inevitable
negativity and recalibrate his life yet
the movies failure didn't banish it to
obscurity like so many others word of
mouth started to spread a cult following
was established and in an age of growing
sensitivity real fight clubs were formed
across America from University to detect
industry from gentlemen clubs to
gatherings of preteen people were
getting together to throw punches many
of which were filmed and leaked online
thus breaking the number-one rule and
leading to arrests on top of that these
gatherings began partaking in terrorist
activities such as bombing attempts
Fight Club had reached a critical mass
and achieved longevity in many home
entertainment collections selling more
than six million copies on DVD and VHS
in his first decade while today Fight
Club is deemed to be palnick and
Fincher's masterpieces it's said to
continue to do damage as a cultural
influencer of violence in a world so
politically separated is this the sort
of entertainment that encourages those
with the lack of power to take matters
into their own hands often leading to
dangerous results one group that have
latched on to Fight Club as their Bible
is the in sells a collection of bitter
violent men who harbor resentment
because of their involuntary celibacy
the most recognized member is elliot
rodger who in 2014 went on a killing
spree at the University of California
when asked about the situation in an
interview with The Guardian palnick
stated that the extremes always go away
comparing the in sells to radical
feminists Valerie Jean Salinas who
attempted to murder pop artist Andy
Warhol in 1968 in a society many deems
to be getting overly sensitive a term
coined by the novel may best represent
the toxicity that the story leaves
behind the term is snowflake an insult
now commonly associated with the
alt-right movement usually directed at
the Liberals and their inflated
entitlement and sensitivity 20 years
after the release of the movie the
message of Fight Club is as relevant as
ever but many of us are moving towards a
more progressive viewpoint and want to
put Fight Club behind us some now even
deem it to be an example of a two-hour
long mansplaining episode and that it is
nothing more than a childish
representation of the past albeit we
must recall what Fight Club was intended
to be it was not propaganda it was
satire how it will be received in the
decades to come only time will tell
Fight Club is a story of pent-up rage a
clenched fist held too long and must be
thrown it's a cautionary tale of what
can happen if we don't find ways to
release the anger
in a peaceful manner Fight Club is not
condoning violence it's supporting all
the other means of expression that isn't
violent after watching the film Chuck
Palahniuk went on to say that he
believes the movie was an improvement on
the book perhaps he saw what Fincher did
many changes were made during adaptation
but perhaps the most notable is the
ending in the novel the narrator wakes
up surrounded by the members of project
Manhattan in a mental hospital after
shooting himself while in the movie the
narrator and Marla mend their
relationship just in time to watch the
city below crumble the novel ends with
the impending return of chaos that is
Tyler Durden
well the movie ends with the new
beginning a new life with Marlow which
version did you prefer and what are your
thoughts on the impact of Fight Club in
today's society is it dangerous
let me know in the comments below and if
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