Random Movie Trivia - Fight Club

I did one of these posts a couple of weeks ago and because learning random bits of trivia is fun for all, I decided to do it again and may make it a new weekly post once college football is over.  Here goes:

Fight Club

• The director of this movie is David Fincher, but did you know that he might have the strangest assortment of directing credits to his name that I have ever seen.  He has also directed Se7en, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Social Network, The Game, Alien 3, Zodiac, Panic Room, and the strangest one of all, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
• Fight Club was originally a book and the author actually said he thought the movie was an improvement over his book, then again, Brad Pitt will make anything better, am I right?
• In the scene where Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are drunk and hitting golf balls, they actually got drunk.
• This movie was shot right after Edward Norton starred in American History X and for his role in Fight Club, Edward lost 20 pounds (and the swastika tattoo) in order to look more like an "every-man".
• The director wanted Helena Bonham Carter to play Marla and the studio wanted to cast Reese Witherspoon for the the part, but Reese turned it down because she considered the part "too dark".  Sarah Michelle Gellar was also approached for the part but couldn't do it because of her contract with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• In the scene where one of the Fight Club members hoses down a priest for his homework assignment, you can see the camera shake.  This happened because the cameraman couldn't stop laughing during the take.
• During the first fight between Edward Norton and Bard Pitt, Edward was supposed to fake hit Pitt in the ear, but the director pulled him aside and told him to really hit him and when you go back and watch it, you can see Edward smiling while Pitt really is in pain.
• Peter Jackson was the original choice to direct this movie and even though he loved the book, he was too busy prepping for The Lord of the Rings.
• Russell Crowe was the producers' choice for the role of Tyler Durden and Matt Damon and Sean Penn were considered for the part of "The Narrator".  I think they made the right call in the end.
• Meat Loaf's fake breasts and love handles were due to a fat suit that was filled with birdseed to ensure it hung correctly and that fat suit weighed around 100 pounds.
• The author of the book came up with the idea for his book after he was beaten up during a camping trip when he complained to some nearby campers about their radio being too loud.  When he showed up at work after the incident, he found it strange that none of his co-workers asked him about the bruises and instead only asked "How was your weekend?".

"I'm positive that Brad Pitt is the only person on the planet who could make what he is wearing look cool."