David Fincher: ‘I’m not responsible’ for the far-right embrace of ‘Fight Club’

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
2

Depiction doesn’t equal endorsement, director David Fincher helpfully reminded folks in a new interview.

The filmmaker, whose new movie “The Killer” is out now in a limited release before arriving on Netflix next week, was asked in an interview with The Guardian how he felt about his 1999 movie “Fight Club” being embraced by misogynists and those who align with the far right of the political spectrum. 

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“I’m not responsible for how people interpret things,” Fincher said when the topic of “incels” and the “alt-right” appreciation of his film was broached. “Language evolves. Symbols evolve.” 

Pushed by the interviewer about the film becoming a “touchstone” for the far right, Fincher added, “OK, fine. It’s one of many touchstones in their lexicography,… we didn’t make it for them, but people will see what they’re going to see in a Norman Rockwell painting, or [Picasso’s] Guernica.”

“Fight Club” has been controversial since before its theatrical release. The film debuted at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and left the crowd aghast and outraged over its content. Based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk, “Fight Club” focuses on an unnamed insurance adjusted (played by Edward Norton) who starts an underground fight club for dissatisfied and disillusioned white men with his new friend, the flamboyant alpha male Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). The twist of the film – here’s a spoiler alert for a movie released 24 years ago – is that Durden is an alternate and toxic personality of the unnamed narrator.

Fincher has long talked about how “Fight Club” is a satire of the subject at hand. “We were making a satire,” Fincher said in Brian Raftery’s book about the 1999 movie year. “We were saying, ‘This is as serious about blowing up buildings as ‘The Graduate’ is about fucking your mom’s friend.’”

Speaking now while once again being asked to defend “Fight Club” against those who misunderstand its subtext, Fincher told The Guardian, “It’s impossible for me to imagine that people don’t understand that Tyler Durden is a negative influence. People who can’t understand that, I don’t know how to respond and I don’t know how to help them.”

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