It is strange now to remember that Fight Club, one of the best movies of the 1990s, was not always a beloved entry in lists of David Fincher's best films. The movie has become one of those titles people talk about as if it arrived fully formed as a cult classic, but according to Edward Norton, the very first wave of audience reactions was a whole lot rougher, and Brad Pitt apparently saw the storm clouds coming, too.
Norton told the story during an appearance on the Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade, where he looked back on Fight Club’s rocky early reception. The actor reminded the hosts that people sometimes forget the movie was a box-office disappointment before it found its audience. He also recalled the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere, which sounds like exactly the wrong room for Fincher’s bruising, anti-consumerist fever dream. Norton explained:
