Casting
[edit]
Producer Ross Bell met with actor Russell Crowe to discuss his candidacy for the role of Tyler Durden. Producer Art Linson, who joined the project late, met with Pitt regarding the same role. Linson was the senior producer of the two, so the studio sought to cast Pitt instead of Crowe.[25] Pitt was looking for a new film after the domestic failure of his 1998 film Meet Joe Black, and the studio believed Fight Club would be more commercially successful with a major star. The studio signed Pitt for US$17.5 million.[28]
For the role of the unnamed Narrator, the studio desired a "sexier marquee name" such as Matt Damon to increase the film's commercial prospects; it also considered Sean Penn. Fincher instead considered Norton based on his performance in the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt.[29] Other studios were approaching Norton for leading roles in developing films like The Talented Mr. Ripley and Man on the Moon. He was cast in Runaway Jury, but the film did not reach production. 20th Century Fox offered Norton $2.5 million for Fight Club. He could not accept the offer immediately because he still owed Paramount Pictures a film; he had signed a contractual obligation with Paramount to appear in one of the studio's future films for a smaller salary. Norton later satisfied the obligation with his role in the 2003 film The Italian Job.[28]
In January 1998, 20th Century Fox announced that Pitt and Norton had been cast.[30] The actors prepared by taking lessons in boxing, taekwondo, grappling,[31] and soapmaking.[32] Pitt voluntarily visited a dentist to have pieces of his front teeth chipped off so his character would not have perfect teeth. The pieces were restored after filming concluded.[33]
Fincher's first choice for the role of Marla Singer was Janeane Garofalo. While Fincher initially stated that she turned it down because she objected to the film's sexual content, in an interview in 2020, Garofalo revealed that she did accept the role, but was dropped because Norton believed she was poorly suited to it.[34][35] Fincher pitched the role to Julia Louis-Dreyfus.[36] The filmmakers considered Courtney Love and Winona Ryder as early candidates.[37] Love claimed that she was cast as Marla Singer, but was fired after she rejected Pitt's pitch for a film about her late husband, Kurt Cobain.[38] The studio wanted to cast Reese Witherspoon, but Fincher felt she was too young.[28] Sarah Michelle Gellar turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Buffy The Vampire Slayer.[39] Finally, Fincher chose to cast Bonham Carter based on her performance in the 1997 film The Wings of the Dove.[40]