FIGHT CLUB

YUPPIE

WHO ARE *YOU*!!

PG 74

INT. TRUCK GARAGE - NIGHT

Ricky and the Yuppie fight each other while the crowd -- still even

more new guys -- cheers.

JACK (V.O.)

We started a fight club for every night of the week.

CLOSE UP - BUMPERSTICKER

Which reads: "DRUNK DRIVERS AGAINST MOTHERS".

A HAND presses it down in all corners. PULL BACK TO REVEAL - the

bumper, THEN the whole car -- a luxury sedan. THEN - the entire

PARKING STRUCTURE wherein ALL the bumpers have the sticker.

JACK (V.O.)

We started pulling pranks.

EXT. STREET - LATE NIGHT

Jack, Tyler and Ricky quickly paste up a basic,

black-on-white-lettering BILLBOARD. It says: "DID YOU KNOW ... ? YOU

CAN USE YOUR OLD MOTOR OIL TO FERTILIZE YOUR LAWN! -- ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY".

TYLER

We're the middle children of history, with no special purpose or place.

We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression.

The great depression is our lives. The great war is a spiritual war.

EXT. LARGE PARKING LOT - DAY

Jack and Bob, armed with a toolbox, change the "Enter" and "Exit" signs

around. They walk away. In the background, a car drives into the

"entrance" and the front tires EXPLODE from the BLADES in the ground.

PG 75

EXT. SIDEWALK - NIGHT

Jack walks toward an intersection, beyond which is a large CITY PARK.

A group of people are LEAVING A PUBLIC BUILDING in front of him. Marla

is among them -- it's a support group adjourning for the night. Jack

catches Marla's eye. He simply smiles and waves. Marla stares at him,

deadpan. She turns and walks away, JUST AS ...

Tyler STEPS INTO FRAME, looking straight ahead at the park. He signals

Jack and they move forward. From out of nowhere, Bob joins them.

EXT. PARK - OUTDOOR BEER FESTIVAL - NIGHT

A bad BAND plays German music. BANNERS advertising American beer are

everywhere. People wear shirts and hats with beer ads. Jack, Bob and

Tyler sneak up to the side of a portable TOILET. They shove it until

it falls against the next toilet. An ENTIRE ROW of portable toilets

falls like dominoes. They dart behind a row of trees, then casually

walk away.

JACK (V.O.)

We were raised by television to believe that someday we'll all be

millionaires and movie stars and rock stars -- but we won't. And we're

learning that fact.

TYLER

And we're very, *very* pissed-off.

INT. AIRPLANE CABIN - ON GROUND - DAY

Two AIRPLANE MAINTENANCE MEN -- with bruised faces -- rip open a box

from a PRINT SHOP. They dig up handfuls of AIRLINE SAFETY INSTRUCTION

CARDS and begin to inset them into each seat back pouch. We MOVE IN

and SEE a card -- it shows passengers SCREAMING and FLAILING ABOUT IN

TERROR.

INT. PAPER ST. HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING

Jack, dressed for work, receives a sheet of paper from Tyler.

TYLER

Make two dozen copies. We're going to have --

PG 76

INT. PHOTOCOPY ROOM - DAY

Jack stands over a copy machine, getting hit by the flashes of light.

JACK (V.O.)

-- more than one fight club on every night of the week.

Jack looks around. Other faces illuminated in FLASHES. HALF of them

are bruised. He smiles, his eyelids getting heavy and his head

nodding.

INT. JACK'S OFFICE - LATER

Jack sits in his cubicle, playing a game on his computer. Boss enters.

JACK (V.O.)

He was wearing a yellow tie. It must be Thursday. I didn't even wear

a tie to work anymore.

Boss slaps a piece of paper down on Jack's desk.

BOSS

"The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club".

Jack stares at him stoically.

JACK (V.O.)

I was still half-asleep all the time. I left the original in the copy

machine.

BOSS

Is this yours? "The second rule of fight club is you don't talk about

fight club". Is it yours or not? You don't get paid to abuse the copy

machine.

JACK

"Abuse" the copy machine. What an image.

BOSS

Let's play pretend. You're me. You find *this*. What would you do?

Hmm? Make a managerial decision. What would you do?

PG 77

Jack slowly rises, walks softly to his office door, shuts it and faces

the boss.

JACK

I'd be very careful who I talked to about this. It sounds like someone

dangerous wrote this, and this buttoned-down psychotic could probably

snap at any moment and stalk from office to office with an Armalite

AR-180 Carbine gas-operated semiautomatic. He's probably at home every

night with a little rattail file, filing a cross into the tip of every

one of his bullets. This way, when he pumps a round into ... *someone*

... it will split along the filed grooves and spread open the way a dum

dum flowers inside you to blow a load of guts out through *someone's*

spine. This is probably somebody you've know for years.

Boss stares at him with a tinge of outrage, a tinge of fear.

JACK (V.O.)

Tyler's words. Me clowning around. And I used to be such a nice

person.

Jack's phone RINGS. Jack answers.

JACK

Compliance and Liability.

MARLA'S VOICE

My tit's going to rot off.

JACK (to Boss; big smile)

Could you excuse me? I need to take this call.

Boss goes to the office door opens it, stares at Jack a beat, then

leaves.

JACK (into phone)

What are you talking about?

PG 78

INTERCUT WITH

CLOSE-UP OF MARLA

In dim light, her face very pretty with make-up.

MARLA

I need you to check and see if there's a lump on my breast. I can't

afford to blow the cash on a doctor just to find out.

JACK

I don't know ...

MARLA

You're the only one I can turn to.

JACK (V.O.)

She didn't call Tyler. I'm neutral in her book.

MARLA

Meet me at work.

EXT. MORTUARY - LATE AFTERNOON

Jack goes through the front door.

INT. MORTUARY - SAME

Jack walks into the dim, dramatically-lit foyer. He sees Marla at a

desk. She does not see him. She's wearing a black formal dress --

like a gorgeous angel of death. A VERY FAT MALE CUSTOMER holds an URN

the size of an egg cup. Marla studies the urn and the Customer's body

with a dreary expression.

MARLA

Sir, you couldn't get the ashes of your *neck* in here.

The Customer turns and stomps out the door. Jack steps forward to the

desk.

JACK

Employee of the month?

Marla looks up at him and smiles.

PG 79

EXT. MARLA'S HOTEL - SUNSET

Jack watches as Marla takes two boxes from a van with sign "MEALS ON

WHEELS".

INT. MARLA'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Marla leads Jack inside.

JACK

You know, this is a sweet side of you.

MARLA

Think so?

JACK

Picking these up for ...

(reads off boxes:)

"Mrs. Haniver" and ... "Mrs. Raines". Where are they? Top floor?

MARLA

They're dead. I'm alive and I'm in poverty. You want any of this?

JACK

No, thanks.

MARLA

Good.

He stares at her while she wolfs down food. Marla takes a napkin and

wipes her mouth.

MARLA

This napkin is "one-hundred percent recycled". So is my toilet paper.

Can you imagine. The worst job in the world -- recycling toilet paper.

INT. MARLA'S ROOM - NIGHT

Marla stands in front of a mirror with her shirt open. Jack stands

behind her with his hand on the bottom side of her breast. Her hand

guides his.

JACK

Where? Here?

MARLA

Here.

PG 80

JACK

There?

MARLA

Here.

JACK

Here.

MARLA

Feel anything?

JACK

No.

Jack's head is behind Marla's. His eyes close. Both of them speak

more slowly, softer.

MARLA

Make sure.

JACK

Okay. Okay, I'm sure.

MARLA

You feel nothing?