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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 5h

In PEEPING TOM, director Michael Powell cast himself as the killer's cruel father in home-movie flashbacks, using his own son to play the boy, making the film disturbingly personal. Follow us for more from cinema history.

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 18/10/2026

The dinner-table creature of THE BABADOOK was a handmade pop-up book and a man in a suit, not digital. Director Jennifer Kent insisted on old-fashioned stop-motion and practical effects to give the monster a nasty, storybook menace. Follow us for more.

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 16/10/2026

For MIDSOMMAR, Ari Aster had the huge May Queen flower dress built with real flowers that the crew replaced daily, and rigged so Florence Pugh could make it "breathe". She wore the crushing costume for so long it left her exhausted. Follow us for more.

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

From our podcast on HIGHLANDER, the team talk about Clancy Brown breaking a sword on set and sending a shard of it over Sean Connery’s head.

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Finally… some great behind the scenes pics from Fight Club. 46/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Perhaps because of the lack of an effective marketing strategy, and due to the controversy, Fight Club grossed $101m at the box office from a $65m budget. Not a great return and, on her daytime TV show, Rosie O’Donnell revealed the twist. (She wasn’t a fan). 45/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Fincher said he was disappointed with the marketing for the film, where the studio highlighted the fighting angle, and men beating each other up, and placed ads at wrestling and UFC events. At that point, Fincher said, he knew Fox didn’t understand the movie. 44/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Fight Club opened at the Venice Film Festival, and didn’t go down well. The head of the festival left after Marla’s “grade school” line but Pitt later said “I didn’t care what anyone thought… I was ecstatic with the final product. It was beyond expectation.” 43/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The buildings that collapse in the final moments of the film were digital composites of buildings owned by Fox. The were concerned they may get legal action against them if they showed real credit card company buildings exploding. 42/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Tyler wears blue blocker shades, an aid in insomnia, suffered by the Narrator. And during the sex scenes, the noises stop when the phone rings and the Narrator picks up the phone. 41/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

There are hints throughout that the Narrator and Tyler are the same person. For example, when they’re smashing the car lights, alarms don’t go off until the Narrator makes contact. Then, even though Tyler was driving, he pulls the Narrator from the car’s driver seat. 40/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The moment where Tyler pushes the Narrator down the stairs was performed by a stuntman. The performer wasn’t allowed to wear any padding or protection because it would be visible in shot, and they did it 12 times. 39/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The scene where Tyler and Narrator are hitting golf balls in the street was not in the script. Norton and Pitt were hitting balls after downing a few beers. Fincher though it looked great so started the camera rolling. 38/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Ziskin was also apparently horrified when she saw the rubber glove sex scene and demanded it be removed. Fincher asked if they could test it, and Ziskin changed her mind when it got a huge reception from test audiences. 37/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

In the novel, Marla says to Tyler “I want to have your abortion.” Laura Ziskin thought this a step too far and asked Fincher to change it. He said he would but only once, and Ziskin agreed. So in the film Marla says “I haven’t been f***ed like that since Grade School.” 36/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The scenes where we see Marla and Tyler having sex were created in CGI. Bonham-Carter and Pitt wore motion capture suits, assuming various positions from the Karma Sutra. And the actors spent a reported three days recording sex noises until Fincher had what he needed. 35/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Starbucks were reportedly happy to be referenced, but did object to one of their stores being trashed at the end by the globe art installation. Instead, Fincher name the fictional coffee shop Gratifico Coffee. 34/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

To highlight the theme of consumerism, Fincher planted Starbucks coffee cups throughout scenes. For the same reason, all major characters smoke. 33/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Tyler lives on Paper Street, which is a subtle nod to the fact he’s the narrator’s alter-ego. Map publishers often include a ‘Paper Street’ if a street is planned but not in existence, or named, yet. 32/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

It wasn’t the last time that a real blow landed. Norton broke his thumb on Pitt’s abs when he punched him in the stomach. There were cracked ribs aplenty, and various bumps and bruises throughout production. 31/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Filming the first fight between Tyler and the Narrator, Fincher told Norton to hit Pitt for real. He didn’t mean to hit him in the ear, though, and the reactions of both Pitt and Norton were ad-libbed on the spot. 30/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Filming the scene in the bar, there was no scripted dialogue. Fincher gave Pitt and Norton a rough outline of where he wanted the conversation to go, and the actors improvised. 38 takes were filmed, and moments from each were put edited together to make up the scene. 29/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Before Tyler is introduced in the film, we actually see him 6 times – “subliminal Brads” according to Fincher. We see him at the doctor’s, at the support group, standing by a photocopier, near Marla in a hallway, in the hotel welcome video, and at the airport. 28/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The Narrator’s apartment was based on Fincher’s own when he first moved to L.A. He did this because while he was living there, he said, he was desperate to blow it up, and called it a “societal emasculation this everyman created.” 27/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The sequence was created entirely in CGI by effects studio Digital Domain and previz company Pixel Liberation Front. The sequence alone cost $750,000 to produce. 26/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Originally, the film opened with the sound of a gun cocking and cutting to the gun in the Narrator’s mouth. Fincher then conceived of the opening credits sequence where move through the synapses and inner workings of the Narrator’s brain. 25/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Fincher is famous for doing many takes when filming scenes. On Fight Club, he shot a reported 1500 rolls of film over a 138-day shoot across 300 scenes and 200 locations. For context, 1500 rolls equate to around 28 miles of film. 24/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The original screenplay didn’t include any narration, and Fincher had the idea of adding it, saying voiceover would be a source of a lot of humour and satire. 23/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Fincher and the lead cast also made script contributions. And so did an uncredited Andrew Kevin Walker, screenwriter of Se7en. He was uncredited on Fight Club so, as homage, Fincher named the three detectives in the film Detectives Andrew, Kevin, and Walker. 22/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

MMA & UFC was just becoming popular at the time the film was made, and Fincher tapped into it, saying of UFC: “It was so raw. You see someone get hit with the palm of somebody’s hand, and their nose just moves an inch and a half across their face." 21/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Years earlier, Palahniuk been camping with friends, and got beaten to a pulp by a bunch of guys. He went to work black and blue, and nobody asked him what was wrong. He said this sowed the idea that people would rather not ask what you do in your spare time. 20/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Palahniuk had been inspired to write the book based on experiences that make it into the film. He was a chronic insomniac in real life. And, as a church-goer when he was a student, he would often attend cancer support groups. 19/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Meat Loaf’s suit was created by the visual effects guru Rob Bottin. He created two suits – one with nipples, and one without. The suit included large breasts filled with bird seed and weighed 28 pounds each. Meatloaf later said that he felt sorry for large-breasted women. 18/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Rocker Meat Loaf was cast in the secondary role of Bob Paulson. He’d just lost weight at the time so wore a fat suit. Meat Loaf needed an oxygen tank when filming the fight scenes because of the extra weight he had to carry. 17/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Marla smokes a lot in the movie, and it took its toll on HBC. She said “Fincher got obsessed with the smoke. It had to float in a particular way. So, I was just always sitting there in a cemetery of cigarette butts… I got bronchitis.” 16/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Bonham-Carter said she based her performance partly on Judy Garland’s on-stage persona. She also asked her right-handed make-up artist to use her left hand, thinking it would give Marla’s appearance the “devil may care” attitude of her character. 15/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

The studio’s choice to play Marla was Witherspoon but she turned it down because of the dark material. Fincher wanted somebody else, though. He’d loved Helena Bonham-Carter in The Wings Of The Dove, and she was cast. 14/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

In casting the female lead of Marla Singer, Fincher reportedly considered Reese Witherspoon, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo and Courney Love. For a time, Love was the front runner but, when her romantic relationship with Norton faltered, Fincher looked elsewhere. 13/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

To subliminally highlight that the Narrator and Tyler are fighting over the same body, Norton and Pitt were given different work out regimes. Norton’s goal was to look weaker as the film progressed, where Pitt trained to get bigger as the movie went on. 12/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Because of Tyler being involved in some pretty intense and controversial moments in the film, Pitt tried to stop his parents from seeing it. They did watch, but apparently switched off when they got to the chicken burn scene. 11/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Pitt got into great shape for the film and stunt co-ordinator Mike Runyard later said “Brad just turned up looking like that. That was his deal. I didn’t do anything with him. I saw him using hand weights on set, but that was it.” 10/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

In casting the Narrator’s alter-ego, Tyler Durden, Russell Crowe met with Ross Bell. Producer Art Linson was more senior than Bell, though, so Fox went with his suggestion, and paid Brad Pitt $17.5m to play Tyler. 9/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Norton didn’t hesitate, later saying “I knew I wanted to be in this movie the minute I heard that we were going to get to say ‘F*** Martha Stewart.’” Norton lost around 20 pounds for the role by running, and taking vitamins. 8/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

For the unnamed lead role, the studio were keen on getting a big marquee name. Matt Damon and Sean Penn were both discussed but, having just seen him in The People vs Larry Flynt, Fincher wanted Edward Norton 7/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

At this point, Bell approached David Fincher. He was reluctant after having a terrible experience working with Fox on the production of Alien 3 but, as a big fan of the book, he signed on. 6/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Fox set about looking for a director. They approached Peter Jackson, but he declined as he was working on The Frighteners. Bryan Singer was sent the book, but didn’t read it. David O. Russell said he didn’t understand it. And Danny Boyle met with Ross Bell, but declined. 5/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Ziskin saw Fight Club as exploring similar themes to The Graduate, and considered hiring its screenwriter, Buck Henry, to adapt Palahniuk’s novel. However, when inexperienced writer Jim Uhls lobbied for the role, he was ultimately chosen. 4/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

Having been rejected for adaptation by several studio readers, Fight Club was picked up by producer Ross Bell. He recorded a 6-hour read through of the book and sent it to Laura Ziskin, founder of Fox 2000 Pictures. She saw potential and bought the book rights for $10,000. 3/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

In 1996, Chuck Palahniuk’s debut novel was published. The story of an unnamed protagonist who suffers severe insomnia, befriends the mysterious Tyler Duerden, and sets up an underground cult, the book was called Fight Club, and it was an instant hit. 2/46

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All The Right Movies @alltherightmovies.com · 15/10/2026

FIGHT CLUB was released 27 years ago today. Acclaimed for its study of consumerism and male identity, and among the most popular films of director David Fincher, the story behind the movie will have you breaking its first two rules… 1/46

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