In the original 'pillow talk' scene at around the 52nd minute, Marla was saying, 'I want to have your abortion.' When Fox 2000 Pictures President of Production Laura Ziskin objected, David Fincher said he would change it on the condition that the new line could not be cut. Ziskin agreed, and Fincher wrote the line, 'I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.' When Ziskin saw the new line, she became even angrier and demanded the original line be put back, but per their agreement, Fincher refused.
In the short scene at around the 38th minute where Brad Pitt and Edward Norton drunkenly hit golf balls, both of them were actually drunk, and the golf balls were going directly into the side of a catering truck.
At around the 54th minute, when Tyler catches the Narrator listening at the door while he is having sex with Marla, he was holding a rubber glove. This was Brad Pitt's idea and led to a major argument with Fox 2000 Pictures President of Production Laura Ziskin. When she saw the scene, she was horrified and demanded it be removed. However, at a later test screening, when the appearance of the glove got the biggest laugh of the entire film, Ziskin changed her mind.
At around the 34th minute, when the Narrator hits Tyler Durden in the ear, Edward Norton actually hit Brad Pitt's ear. Initially he was going to fake the hit, but before the scene, David Fincher took Norton aside and told him to hit his ear. After Norton hits him in the scene, Norton can be seen smiling and laughing while Pitt is in pain and cursing.
Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter recorded orgasm sounds for three days for the unseen sex scenes.
At around 1 hour 15 minutes, when a Fight Club member sprays a nun with a hose, the camera shakes briefly. The reason is that the cameraman could not keep himself from laughing.
The breath seen in the cave scene at around the 10th minute is Leonardo DiCaprio's breath recycled from Titanic (1997) and added to the image.
Bob wears a shirt during the fights, whereas one of the eight rules is that no shirts or shoes are worn in the fights. The reason is that Tyler Durden finds Bob's 'man breasts' too disgusting. Behind the scenes, Meat Loaf's fat suit also had to be concealed.
During rehearsals at around 1 hour 20 minutes, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton discovered that they hated the new Volkswagen Beetle. For the scene where Tyler and the Narrator smash cars with baseball bats, Pitt and Norton insisted that one of the cars be a Beetle. As Norton explains in his DVD commentary, he hates the car because the Beetle was one of the primary symbols of 1960s youth culture and freedom. But the youth of the '60s had become the corporate bosses of the '90s, repackaging the symbol of their own youth and selling it to another generation's youth as if it meant nothing. Both Norton and Pitt felt that this kind of corporate selling was what the film was opposing, so the car was included: 'It's a perfect example of the Baby Boomer generation marketing their youth culture to us. As if our happiness will come from buying the symbol of a youth movement along with a little plastic flower holder. It horrifies me. I hate it.' However, in the DVD commentary, Pitt says he changed his mind about the new Beetle.
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton actually learned how to make soap.
To make Bob's (Meat Loaf) breasts and love handles sag correctly, the fat suit was filled with birdseed so that it would 'spill' over his pants and give the impression of sagging flesh. The costume plus the weight of the birdseed was over one hundred pounds.
Tyler Durden was originally planned to read a viable recipe for homemade explosives (as he does in the novel). However, for the sake of public safety, the producers decided to use fictional recipes instead of real ones.
The sex scene between Tyler and Marla at around the 48th minute was shot using the 'bullet-time' technique used in The Matrix (1999); cameras were placed in a circle around the bed and each took a single frame in turn. These single frames were then combined and enhanced with CG, because Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter were wearing motion capture suits while fully clothed during the shoot.
Director David Fincher shot 38 takes of the scene between Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and the Narrator (Edward Norton) at Lou's Bar after the Narrator's apartment explodes. Each take was filmed with two cameras, and for each take Fincher gave the actors a rough idea of what to do, and they improvised most of the dialogue. As it appears in the film, the scene is made up of pieces from many different takes, and a large portion of the dialogue, especially Tyler's dialogue, was entirely improvised on set.
At around the 4th minute, when the Narrator sits on the toilet with his pants down while reading an Ikea catalog, Edward Norton is actually completely naked from the waist down. Norton tells this in the DVD commentary, and David Fincher says, 'Really?' Norton says, 'Did you notice I never had to go to the bathroom that day?'
Before filming, makeup artist Julie Pearce studied UFC matches to see what makeup effects would be needed in the film, since she had never done 'realistic fight makeup' before.
Director David Fincher initially wanted to add a single-frame flash of Tyler Durden during the 20th Century Fox logo, but the studio's legal department would not allow it. He then tried to add the image during the Regency Enterprises logo, but Regency President Arnon Milchan also would not allow it.
The film's title sequence is a pullback from the fear center in the Narrator's brain and represents the thought processes initiated by the Narrator's fear impulse. The sequence was designed by director David Fincher and budgeted separately from the rest of the film. The studio told Fincher they would only finance the elaborate sequence if the film itself was good. After seeing a rough cut, they were satisfied and the sequence went ahead. The CG brain was mapped using an L-system, with illustrations by medical illustrator Kathryn Jones and designed by Kevin Scott Mack of Digital Domain.
At about 1 hour 45 minutes, Starbucks withdrew its name from the coffee shop's destruction scene. They did not mind the director placing their products throughout the film, but they did not want their name destroyed in that scene. Therefore, the golden globe crashes into a shop called Gratifico Coffee.
The reverse tracking shot from the trash can at about the 4th minute, an elaborate digital animation sequence, was the last shot added to the film. It required so much processing time that it nearly had to be inserted 'wet' — that is, straight from the lab — for the film to be duplicated on time. Because of the amount of reflective surfaces in the shot, processing a single frame took almost 8 hours. Processing the entire shot took 3 weeks.
The layout of the Narrator's apartment was based on an apartment director David Fincher lived in when he first moved to LA. Fincher decided to model the space on this apartment because he claims he always wanted to blow it up while living there.
During an exterior shoot in an urban residential area, a man living in one of the apartments above the working film crew was so disturbed by the noise that he threw a 40 oz beer bottle at them. The bottle hit cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth; although it cut him, he was not seriously injured; the man was arrested shortly afterward.
During the filming of the sex scene at about the 48th minute, actors Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter posed in 10 different positions from the Kama Sutra.
Director David Fincher shot more than 1,500 reels of film, more than three times the normal amount for a 120-minute film.
The final shot of the credit banks collapsing at about 2 hours 15 minutes was designed by Richard 'Dr.' Baily, who worked on the shot for more than 14 months. According to director David Fincher, there are nearly 4 million individually animated digital elements in the shot.
At about 1 hour 40 minutes, when the Narrator comes downstairs pretending to be asleep after the car crash, he enters the kitchen and Steph slaps a Space Monkey and yells about how worthless he is. While filming this scene, the original extra playing the Space Monkey got so fed up with being slapped that he left the set and had to be replaced. The actor seen in the film is the replacement.
During the filming of the first support group scene at about the 6th minute (in which Thomas (David Andrews) talks about his wife getting pregnant by another man), an extra was so disturbed by the subject that he left the set and refused to take payment.
Makeup artist Rob Bottin had to make two different fat suits for Meat Loaf — one with nipples, one without — because the producers were unsure whether 20th Century Fox would approve the costume with visible nipples.
All of the buildings that finally explode at about 2 hours 15 minutes are structures digitally added to the footage of buildings owned by Fox. It was feared that legal action would be taken against the production if they showed real credit card companies exploding.
The shot of the Narrator shooting himself at about 2 hours 10 minutes was initially planned to be done practically, using synchronized high-speed photosonic cameras, a dummy made by makeup supervisor Rob Bottin and live footage of actor Edward Norton. However, the producers could not get the shot to look the way they wanted, so at the last moment they decided to do the scene mainly with CG rather than live action. In the end, live footage of Edward Norton was used with air blown into his mouth at 180 psi pressure (to make his cheeks swell), but apart from the actual face, the only real element in the shot is the blood spurting from his mouth; everything else is CG.
Filming lasted 138 days; more than 300 scenes were shot in 200 locations, and production designer Alex McDowell built 72 sets.
During the night exterior shoots of Tyler's house in San Pedro, the helium balloon lights that cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth raised over the house were mistaken for a UFO, and the Lomita Sheriff's Office visited the set to question the situation.
(Around the 55th minute) While the Narrator writes haiku poems at work and sends them to his coworkers, the names on the email list include production assistants and other crew members.
While the film stock was being processed, various techniques were applied to alter the look of the image and enhance the feeling of 'grit'. Under the supervision of David Fincher and Jeff Cronenweth, contrast was increased, the print was underexposed, re-silvering was used to increase density, and it was printed onto high-contrast print stocks to create a layer that Fincher likened to a 'dirty patina'.
(Around 1 hour 45 minutes) The scene in which the corporate art piece is destroyed (the scene where the giant ball hits the coffee shop) is the most difficult scene to shoot in the entire film. Initially, Fincher wanted the scene to feature a fully CG ball over live plates, but visual effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug convinced him to shoot it as a live practical effect. Special effects coordinator Cliff Wenger took charge of the scene. Problems began when Wenger discovered that the floor of the location could support only 250 pounds per square meter. Therefore, to avoid causing damage, a lightweight ball (100 pounds) was made. However, because the ball was so light, it did not react like a heavy ball; for example, it bounced when rolling down stairs, left no trail when moving through water, and instead of sinking to the bottom of the pool and rolling along the surface, it floated. The ball also failed to gain enough speed. In the end, Wenger settled for having two special effects technicians pull the ball with wires and try to hold it so it would not float on the water's surface. There were also problems during the shooting of the scene in which the ball hits the front facade of the coffee shop. Wenger had only a 40-foot run-up area in front of the shop, but because the ball was 8 feet high and the ceiling of the shooting area was 10 feet, the ramp could rise only 2 feet off the ground, leaving almost no room for the ball to build momentum before hitting the glass. As a result, when the ball hit the cafe, instead of smashing the front window and plunging into the counter, it rolled back. In the end, the entire scene was handed over to the digital effects company Toybox, and they were asked to do a major cleanup on the live-action footage. In the rolling shots, bounce effects were removed, furniture violently knocked out of the ball's path was added, and cracks in the pavement, flickering lights, additional splashes and trails as it moved through water, and digital camera shake were added behind the ball. In the cafe shots, the destruction of the counter was completed, flying glass and furniture, flickering lights, and again digital camera shake were added. Ultimately, although most of the scene is live action, nearly all of the small effects are entirely digital.
(Around the 20th minute) According to Brad Pitt (from the commentary), in the scene where Edward Norton watches a welcome video in the hotel, Brad Pitt plays one of the staff members on the screen.
There is a brief extended scene shown on premium cable channels that is not on the DVD. When the Narrator goes to Marla Singer's apartment for a breast cancer check, Marla's breast is visible outside her shirt for a moment.
The name of the font used for the titles and logo is 'Fight This'.
In a 2014 interview, stunt performer Laura Grady spoke about doubling for Helena Bonham Carter in the sex scene: 'Fight Club was my favorite. It was incredible. There was so much work on set; two whole weeks of just these bed scenes! You can't be shy. There was a stunt double for Brad Pitt too, so we spent two weeks on a set with David Fincher and in front of a green screen, reenacting all the sex scenes. I saw Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter during the day, but they were never in my scenes - the doubles did their work, then Brad and Helena did their own work. So I couldn't interact with Brad, unfortunately. David Fincher is a genius master. He spent a lot of time with us. He really cared a lot about how we looked. And all those scenes - it was the most complex sex scene I've ever done in my life. It was quite intense. We were on top of each other, me and the double. He wanted us to choreograph it like a dance. He would use phrases like this to give an idea of what he wanted: 'You're in molasses' or 'You're in water, flowing.' And when you watch the film, that's exactly what it is.'
The shot used in the trailer of 'the soap hitting the plate' was done correctly on the 41st take. After the 40th take, Fincher noticed that the soap was slipping out of frame and decided to use a fake soap prop.
Like Tyler Durden, David Fincher also worked as a projectionist as a side job in his youth.
Jeff Cronenweth, who was working as cinematographer for the first time together with David Fincher, decided to shoot the film in Super 35 format with spherical lenses rather than achieving a 2.39:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic lenses. Fincher's previous two films, Seven (1995) and The Game (1997), had also been shot in Super 35. On this film, because many scenes were to be shot in practical locations with practical lighting, it was thought that anamorphic lenses would not receive enough light, since anamorphic lenses require more light than spherical lenses for correct exposure. The disadvantage was that, unlike an anamorphic negative, the Super 35 negative has to be blown up for the 2.39:1 extraction process, so the final print would be grainier than one shot anamorphically. However, both Fincher and Cronenweth felt that the extra grain suited the film's tone, and no attempt was made to clean it up or reduce it in post-production.
The only remaining example of the giant pink and white 'liposuction soap' prop (approximately 12" x 10") featured in the film can be seen briefly but clearly as a framed artwork behind the character Warren Henley in the film Automatic (2001).
Meat Loaf wore a 90-pound fat harness for the 'bitch tits'.
Tyler never has an over-the-shoulder shot in the film, which suggests that he exists in the real world together with other people.
The wide shot of Project Mayhem's destructive equipment lying in underground parking garages is a three-dimensional composite made by special effects photographer Michael Douglas Middleton from more than 100 photographs of Los Angeles and Century City.
(Around the 50th minute) When Marla Singer calls the Narrator, Macroform's song 'Simplicity' can be heard. This song is frequently played by businesses when they put customers on hold. It is not listed on the soundtrack.
(Around the 35th minute) The brown station wagon Edward Norton crashes in his first fight with Brad Pitt is the same car Michael Douglas hides in while James Rebhorn drives him to the CRS center in The Game (1997). There is a CRS sticker on the car's windshield (though the sticker is not visible in the film - David Fincher mentions this in his DVD commentary). Also, David Andrews, who plays the testicular cancer support group member (the former wife who has a child with her new husband), appeared in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) (as Robert Brewster; Kate Brewster's father) and worked for a company called CRS.
(Around the 21st minute) The Digital Domain visual effects supervisor is the frightened man with glasses in the plane crash scene.
(Around the 19th minute) Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth's sister plays the airline check-in clerk who tells the Narrator he arrived at his plane three hours early.
David Fincher's first film with cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth. Fincher had previously worked briefly with his father, Jordan Cronenweth, on Alien³ (1992), until his Parkinson's disease worsened.
(Around the 25th minute) After the flight where Tyler Durden first meets the Narrator, as he leaves the airport, gets into his car and drives away, in the background a man chases the car as if it has just been stolen.
(Around the 26th minute) The apartment building where the Narrator finds his belongings scattered on the curb at the start of the film, Pearson Towers, is actually the Promenade Towers at 123 South Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. Its slogan in the film is 'A Place to Be Somebody', while the real building's slogan is 'A City Within a City'.
(Around the 2-hour mark) The scene where the Narrator puts Marla on the bus was shot a few doors down from the old Olympic Theater on 8th Street between S Hill and S Broadway in Los Angeles. Robert Neville, played by Charlton Heston, ran into the middle of that same street in The Omega Man (1971) and shouted 'There's no phone, damn it!' Brian Tochi appears in both films.
(Around 1 hour 18 minutes) The Narrator works in the Compliance and Responsibility department at Federated Motor Corporation. FMC is located at 39210 North Pennfield Boulevard in Bradford (state unspecified).
(Around the 5th minute) When the Narrator opens the refrigerator, there is Mendocino mustard on the door. It is an extremely small business located in a small village in Northern California.
Priyom Haider shot and recreated the 'Chemical Burn' scene as one of his first acting projects.
Lou's Tavern was shot only 800 meters (0.5 miles) from Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson's house in Starsky & Hutch (2004).