FIGHT CLUB

EXT. CINEMA PARKING LOT - NIGHT

LONG SHOT - ZOOMING OUT - Resuming from previous shot, getting further

away, but now with FOURTEEN GUYS around a fight. CUT TO:

EXT. PORCH - NIGHT

Tyler, in his waiter uniform, sits next to Jack on the lip of the

porch. They both have newer, different bruises and cuts, sit and

guzzle beer. THUNDERCLAPS. RAIN begins to fall. Tyler gets to his

feet.

INT. BASEMENT - SAME

Tyler and Jack are knee-deep in water, standing by a FUSEBOX. Tyler

opens it. He grabs two breaker switches, waits for Jack. Jack grabs

two other switches, apparently, they have to do this in a certain

order. Tyler flips his switches, then Jack flips his. CUT TO:

EXT. CONSTRUCTION AREA - NIGHT

LONG SHOT - ZOOMING OUT - Resuming from previous shot, getting further

away, but now with EIGHTEEN GUYS around a fight. CUT TO:

PG 42

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Rain DRIPS from the ceiling -- some of it from LIGHT FIXTURES. Tyler

and Jack enter with LIT CANDLES. They sit down on the decrepit,

buckled wood floor. There's not one item of furniture in the room.

There are, however, THOUSANDS of MAGAZINES.

JACK (V.O.)

The previous occupant collected magazines.

They each pick up an opened magazine and resume reading, adjusting

close to the candles.

Tyler lies down next to him, setting his candle next to Jack's. Tyler

picks up a magazine.

TYLER

What are your reading?

JACK

"I Am Joe's Lungs". It's written in first person. "Without me, Joe

could not take in oxygen to feed his red blood cells".

TYLER

Sounds fascinating.

JACK

It's a whole series -- "I Am Joe's Prostate".

TYLER

"I get cancer, and I kill Joe".

JACK

What are you reading?

TYLER

Soldier of Fortune, National Geographic. New Republic. Forbes.

JACK

Show-off.

JACK (V.O.)

Every Wednesday night, after fighting like wild animals, we were too

wired to go to sleep.

PG 43

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY

In near DARKNESS as a SLIDE SHOW progresses, run by a chipper salesman,

WALTER. Jack sits, deadpan, with a PUFFY LIP and a BRUISE on his

cheek.

JACK (V.O.)

Thursday morning, my Boss didn't know what to think.

Boss blocks him from the rest of the room, gives him a dubious look,

turns back to Walter.

JACK (V.O.)

And all I could do was think about next week.

Walter advances to the next slide, showing a view of a COMPUTER SCREEN.

WALTER

The basic premise of microsofting your office is -- make things more

efficient.

As Walter continues, his sales pitched gets drowned out by Jack's

narration:

JACK (V.O.)

Walter, the Microsoft account exec, smiled at me with his steam shovel

jaw. Walter, with his smooth, soft hands. Here he was, doing his cute

little show. Maybe thinking about a free-range potluck he'd been to

last weekend, but probably not.

Walter moves to Jack and slaps his shoulder.

WALTER

I showed this already to my man here. You liked it, didn't you?

Slowly, Jack smiles. His teeth are RED with BLOOD. They GLOW eerily

in the dim light.

JACK (V.O.)

You can swallow a pint of blood before you get sick.

WALTER

Jeez, I'd hate to see what happened to the other guy.

Jack keeps the smile frozen on his face.

PG 44

JACK (V.O.)

Fuck Walter. His candy ass wouldn't last a second in fight club.

EXT. LOU'S TAVERN - NIGHT

Out of silent darkness, HEADLIGHTS appear from all directions. A

synchronous WAVE of cars PULLS UP and parks in the already-filled lot.

Young men get out of the arriving cars and wander into the tavern. We

recognize, among them, the GUYS who watched Tyler and Jack's *first

fight*.

INT. LOU'S TAVERN - SAME

The men enter; the bartender, IRVINE, calls out:

IRVINE

Drink up people. We're closing. Let's go.

The crowd consists of men and women YUPPIES: blue collar REGULARS

dressed in work clothes or like cowboys; floozy barfly WOMEN. MUSIC

plays from the jukebox.

The arriving men simply wait. And wait. Tyler and Jack enter. They,

too, stand back against he wall.

The waiting army begins to share secret looks and grins. A certain

level of eagerness can be seen among them.

Irvine looks at Jack and grins. He flips on LIGHTS. The drunken

customers squint and get the message. They gulp down their drinks,

plop down money and filter out the door. Irvine hits a button and the

jukebox loses power -- the record simply turns slower until it stops

revolving.

Finally, the last of the irritated customers leaves. One guy locks the

door. Two other guys pull down blinds. Someone else moves over to the

BASEMENT DOOR and opens it.

INT. BASEMENT STEPS - MOMENTS LATER

The grinning men march down steps; CHATTER begins.

TALL GUY

I brought my roommate tonight. Phil.

FAT GUY

Oh, yeah? Hi, Phil.

TALL GUY

He kept seeing what I looked like. Had to check it out.

PG 45

INT. TAVERN BASEMENT - SAME

A BOMB-SHELTER -- concrete floor, concrete walls. One BARE LIGHT BULB

hangs by a wire from the ceiling. Tyler nods to Jack and Jack turns on

the light. The guys mill around, finding partners. The whole mood is

very friendly. Everyone brims with eagerness, but tries to act cool

about it. CHATTER gets LOUDER.

FAT GUY

A mean uppercut.

WIRY GUY

I gotta work on my left.

SHORT GUY

*He's* got a left.

FAT GUY

Hey, you're wiping the floor with dudes who are way out of your weight

class.

TALL GUY (slapping Wiry Guy's shoulder)

Skinny guys. They fight till they're burger.

PEAKING CHATTER, then -- Tyler moves into position directly under the

light bulb. His face is partially in shadow.

Everyone spreads out, forming a circle, the light bulb for a center.

Tyler's will WIPES through the room and the CHATTER DIES. A couple of

COUGHS, FEET SHUFFLING. Then, SILENCE.

TYLER

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

The second rule of fight club is -- you don't talk about fight club.

Jack glances over at a short guy, RICKY, with a BLACK EYE.

JACK (V.O.)

This kid, Ricky -- supply clerk -- he can't remember whether you

ordered pens with blue ink or black ink ...

TYLER

The third rule in fight club is -- when someone says "stop" or goes

limp, the fight is over. The fourth rule is -- only two guys to a

fight.

PG 46

JACK (V.O.)

But Ricky was a god for ten minutes when he trounced an actuary twice

his size.

TYLER

Fifth rule -- one fight at a time. Sixth rule -- no shirts or shoes.

Seventh rule -- fights go on as long as they have to. And the eighth

rule of fight club is -- if this is your first night, you *have* to

fight.

Tyler steps back, and a FAT MAN and a GOATEED MAN take off their shirts

and shoes and step into the center. They circle each other, then begin

throwing punches. SWEAT flies into the moist air. SHOUTS become

DEAFENING.

JACK (V.O.)

Sometimes you could hear flat, hard packing sounds over all the yelling

as someone caught his breath and sprayed:

GOATEED MAN

Ssstop.

INT. OFFICE PARK RESTAURANT - DAY

Jack, eating lunch, is served a refill soda by the BROKEN-NOSED WAITER

with a GOATEE, the man from the above fight.

JACK (V.O.)

Even if I could tell someone they had a good fight, I wouldn't be

talking to the same man. Who you were in fight club is not who you

were in the rest of your world. You weren't alive anywhere like you

were alive at fight club. But fight club only exists in the hours

between when fight club starts and when fight club ends.

INT. JACK'S OFFICE - DAY

Boss, passing by the doorway, looks in at Jack with irritated wonder.

Jack, playing solitaire on his computer, daubs blood from his mouth

with a handkerchief.

BOSS

What are you getting yourself into every week?

PG 47

Jack flashes a smile at Boss. Boss shakes his head, walks away.

JACK (V.O.)

After a night in fight club, everything else in your life gets the

volume turned down. You can deal with anything. All the people who

used to have power over you have less and less.

Reflexively, Jack's tongue plays with his teeth.

JACK (V.O.)

By this point, I could wiggle most of the teeth in my jaw.

INT. BUS - DAY

Jack stands, holding a hand grip. An arrogant MAN in a three-piece

suit brushes past him, knockng his shoulder.

JACK (V.O.)

We all started to size people up.

Jack violently knocks the Man's shoulder in return. The Man turns and

he and Jack face each other for a brief moment. Jack's face is stone.

JACK (V.O.)

I'd look at some asshole and *know* I could beat him.

The arrogant Man continues down the aisle. Jack notices a GUY with

SMASHED LIP. The Guy grins, giving a slight nod.

INT. PARKING GARAGE - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Jack walks past the parking garage. He sees a VALET who has facial

bruises.

JACK (V.O.)

We were all doing it.

The Valet and Jack share a quick smile. A BMW pulls up and HONKS at

the Bruised Valet. The bruised Valet has no reaction as a FAT EXEC gets

out of his car and tosses the keys. Jack watches the Bruised Valet

size up the Exec, then hop into the car and loudly PEEL OUT.

PG 48

JACK (V.O.)

I would see them all the time -- fight club members looking at other

guys, knowing they could kick their asses.