It's been a long time coming, but
we've got one of our most highly requested part twos ever.
And this proves that we do actually read your comments.
Well, I mean I don't, I'm really busy with the narrating and all.
But someone else reads those comments, and now here we are.
Here are seven more things you didn't know about Fight Club, probably.
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Marla Singer is considered a problem by the narrator for most of Fight Club,
but she was also a problem for the filmmakers.
At the time they were making Fight Club, there was only one Marla Singer in
the continental United States, which is kind of surprising.
I mean, it seems like a pretty common name, right?
Anyway, the fact that there was only one person already named
Marla Singer created a clearance headache.
See if there are 1,000 real Marla Singers out there and one of them tries to sue you
for your movie, you can always argue that the character in the film is not based on
the same Marla Singer who is trying to sue you.
But since there was only one Marla Singer, if she had had a problem with the movie
Marla, they couldn't necessarily argue that the character was based on some
other Marla Singer because there was no other Marla Singer.
Ultimately they did manage to work things out and get the clearance they needed,
obviously, but
it did take some fancy lawyering by Fox before they were good to go.
(Sound) >> God, why are you doing this?
>> It's cheaper than a movie, and
there's free coffee. >> Keeping Marla Singer's name the same as
it was in the book is just one way in which Fight Club is a pretty faithful
adaption, but there were a few things that had to change for the movie.
For one, the book takes place in Wilmington,
Delaware, because there are a lot of credit company headquarters there.
(Sound) You're probably already familiar enough with the movie to know why that's
important to the plot.
But they weren't able to film in Wilmington,
because you need a lot of special permissions and clearances for
various buildings and streets that they would have needed.
Which is why they had to change the main location in the movie to basically
any city USA.
By the way, if you want to hear more differences between Fight Club the book
and Fight Club the movie,
make sure to check out our episode of What's the Difference.
And with that shameless plug out of the way, let's go to our next thing.
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You know this part with all the water leaking from the ceiling and
pouring down the walls?
It's there to let us know that the Paper Street House is, you know, a shit hole.
(Sound) But you probably didn't know that it's also there as an homage to
Blade Runner. >> I can see you.
>> The overall aesthetic and
imagery of Tyler Durden's and
JF Sebastian's homes have undeniable similarities,
the main one being that you can basically get rained on while you're indoors.
Next thing!
(Sound) In part one we told you guys about a line
in the movie that the Fox execs thought was too raunchy for audiences, so
here’s another thing that had them clutching their pearls.
It was Brad Pitt’s idea for him to wear the rubber glove in this scene when he
asks the narrator if he wants to quote, finish Marla off.
>> You want to finish her off?
The studio was adamant that this part get cut because they felt that it was unfunny,
and just generally terrible.
But when everyone screening the daily saw the bit with the glove and started
cracking up, director David Fincher knew that he had to put it in the movie.
Proving yet again that the suits are pretty much always wrong.
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Brad Pitt may have had ideas about Tyler Durden's sexual proclivities, but
Edward Norton had some ideas about which cars they should smash in this scene.
Norton insisted that one of the cars that he and Tyler trash be a Volkswagen Beetle.
Because he hated the recycling of mementos from the baby boomers,
which was going on at that point in the late 90s.
(Sound) David Fincher cheerfully obliged.
So they rented all of the cars they needed for the scene, including the Beetle, and
then returned them all to the rental facility completely smashed in.
(Sound) Hopefully they sprung for the insurance.
(Music)
>> What happened? >> Don't ask.
>> This one is a bit spoilerish, so
skip ahead if that's a problem for you.
Then again, I'm not sure why you're watching this before seeing the movie
anyway, which is kind of a dip (Bleep) move.
So you know what?
Just get out of here, you (Bleep).
Anyway, for this spectacular explosion at the end of Fight Club,
it took a lot of computer graphics work.
What you may not know is, it actually took a year's worth of computer graphics work
to achieve this shot.
The late Richard Dr. Baily was the digital animation producer behind it, and
they had to build all of the CG towers and
every individual bit of exploding glass and debris one frame at a time.
And there were millions of pieces to animate,
not to mention the smoke elements.
The designs were based on real buildings in Los Angeles, including the Fox Tower,
which is the same building that gets all fucked (Bleep) in Die Hard.
(Sound) Filmmakers seem to really like blowing up Fox.
It's probably because they keep trying to cut all the best parts
out of their movies.
(Music)
I'm sure you remember this part,
where Tyler is riding around on the bike inside the house.
But I bet you didn't know that in this shot in the doorway,
Brad Pitt is totally naked from the waist down.
Which doesn't seem like the best idea when you're riding a bike, you know,
because of your balls.
(Sound) Like the entire rest of the movie it's extremely dark in this scene, so
you can't really see his junk or anything.
But trust me, he really is naked. >> That's right.
>> As long as we're on the subject of
concealed wangs and Fight Club, Edward Norton is also fully nude from the waist
down here on the toilet. >> I'd like to order the Erika Pekkari
dust ruffles. >> Please hold.
>> Yeah, so now you know that.
On that note, I think that's enough for today.
Thanks for watching, and be sure to check out cinefix.com, and subscribe for
more truish things about movies.
And more often than you think,
things about cleverly hidden dongs right here on Things You Didn't Know.
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