Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk has commented on the movie's ending being censored for its streaming release in China, saying that it's actually more similar to his book than director David Fincher's ending.
In Fincher's 1999 adaptation of Palahniuk's novel, the movie ends with the unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) killing his imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). He and Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) then stand and watch as buildings explode as part of Durden's Project Mayhem.
However, according to Vice, no buildings explode in the new ending and the scene is replaced by text that reads: "Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to a lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012."
"The irony is that the way the Chinese have changed it is they’ve aligned the ending almost exactly with the ending of the book, as opposed to Fincher’s ending, which was the more spectacular visual ending," Palahniuk told TMZ. "So in a way, the Chinese brought the movie back to the book a little bit."
He added: "What I find really interesting is that my books are heavily banned throughout the US. The Texas prison system refuses to carry my books in their libraries. A lot of public schools and most private schools refuse to carry my books. But it’s only an issue once China changes the end of a movie? I’ve been putting up with book banning for a long time."
His book has even been changed to better reflect Fincher's movie. "A lot of my overseas publishers have edited the novel so the novel ends the way the movie ends," he said. "So I’ve been dealing with this kind of revision for like 25 years."
Fincher's next movie is The Killer, which will follow the life of an assassin and will release on Netflix. While we wait for that to arrive on the small screen, check out our list of the best Netflix movies that you can watch right now.
