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Fight Club creator Chuck Palahniuk has opened up about his disappointment over the movie's ending.
While discussing his new book Not Forever, But For Now with Variety recently, the author reflected on the complicated legacy of David Fincher's adaptation, which polarized critic opinion and sparked controversy upon its release in 1999, before going on to become a cult classic. When the publication asked him outright whether there was anything he didn't particularly like about the big screen take, he candidly confessed that he "wasn't a big fan of the ticking bomb" thing in its final act.
"That counting down clock near the end," Palahniuk went on. "And [screenwriter] Jim Uhls stuck it in because there's obviously such a trope, and I've grown to accept that it is a trope."
Based on the 1996 novel of the same name, Fight Club follows Edward Norton's insomniac Narrator, who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a flamboyant soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). When an explosion wrecks his apartment, the Narrator moves in with Tyler, and is introduced to the latter's secret fighting association.
As the Narrator starts recruiting new members to the club, Tyler turns it into Project Mayhem, a vandalistic group he hopes will disrupt society in a major way. Confused by Tyler's lack of focus and new agenda, the Narrator confronts his pal, which leads to Tyler admitting that he destroyed the Narrator's apartment before taking off. When one of the Narrator's friends is killed by the police during one of Project Mayhem's missions, the Narrator sets out to dismantle the organization; only to discover that he and Tyler are split personalities.
The Narrator goes to the authorities when he learns of Tyler's plans to explode several buildings housing credit records to wipe debts, but is forced to try and disable the bombs himself when he realizes that Project Mayhem has infiltrated law enforcement. Tyler attacks him, which prompts him to shoot himself in the head, "killing" Tyler as the bullet nonfatally passes through his cheek.
In the book, Tyler hopes to make himself a martyr by dying in the explosions, along with the Narrator. The plot doesn't work out, though, when the explosives malfunction and he splits the scene before the Narrator can kill him. After turning the gun on himself, the Narrator wakes up in a psychiatric facility and learns he's being "looked after" by members of Project Mayhem. They confirm the group has no intention of slowing down, and tease Tyler's return.
In May 2015, Palahniuk published a comic book meta-sequel to Fight Club. It's understandable why Fincher and Uhls would want to wrap the movie up with something more definitive, though, given that the follow-up wasn't around at the time.
For more, check out our list of the 100 best movies of the decade.
