20 DVD Commentaries You Need To Hear Before You Die

By Sam Heard /

9. Fight Club

Participant(s): David Fincher, Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter David Fincher€™s Fight Club is a film whose popularity has snowballed over the years and remains beloved fifteen years after its initial release. The technically masterful discussion of the male Id and subconscious has led to the movie being discussed and interpreted in many a film studies classroom. Listening to the commentary track with the film€™s director and its visceral cast provides an even more detailed appreciation of the film most assume to have been squeezed of every drop. Fincher€™s contribution is particularly fascinating, analysing the processes through which he was able to create the cinematic social commentary. We also learn some fascinating pieces of trivia about the film; for example, Helena Bonham Carter is renowned as being a heavy smoker but it was believed that all the cigarettes she€™d have to smoke as her nicotine-addicted character might cure her. Instead, Carter went from smoking two packs a day to three. There are a few laughs in there too. When the notorious spliced in penis appears for a frame at the end of the film Norton quips: €œFincher appears in all his films€.