As films go, Fight Club has managed to enter a world of its own. It is simultaneously loved by all for its incredible storyline, magnificent acting and twist to end all twists, yet is slowly being ousted for its problematic portrayal of toxic masculinity and flawed central characters.

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No matter where you fall on this side of the debate, it’s impossible to deny its entertainment value. The 1999 Brad Pitt/Edward Norton film quickly overshadowed the success of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, so we’ve collected ten things that changed in the adaptation process.

Staying With Tyler

Very soon after meeting Tyler, The Narrator’s apartment is blown up. He loses all of his possessions in the incident, and the film shows him ringing Marla (played by Helena Bonham Carter) for help. When she doesn’t answer, he calls Tyler from a phone booth and ends up making Tyler tell him to ask if he can stay with him.

In the book, he doesn’t attempt to call Marla at all and instead calls Tyler directly from the lobby. Rather than forcing Tyler to tell him to ask to stay with him, The Narrator simply asks him directly while they’re out in a bar.

Chloe’s Desire

This one is a bit of a difficult watch in the film. During a support group, we see Chloe begging desperately for someone in the group to have sex with her. Fight Club isn’t exactly a kid's film, and this scene ends up being incredibly intense.

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In the book, it is a much more private affair, with Chloe privately confessing her desires directly to The Narrator, making it a much less publicly humiliating situation.

Bob’s Death

Bob and the Narrator in Fight Club

The most heartbreaking moment in Fight Club must be when the loveable Bob dies. In the film, we see this happening during a Project Mayhem mission to destroy a café and some art in the process.

The book shows this happening in a completely different, rather less grand, way. The group is robbing money from payphones when he meets his end.

The Narrator Meeting Tyler Durden

One of the most iconic moments from Fight Club is the initial meeting between Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and The Narrator (Edward Norton). In the film, we see that Durden is a soap salesman (hence the cover of the film’s DVD) with the same briefcase as The Narrator when they meet on a plane.

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The book shows the two meeting on a beach in very different circumstances. Durden is building something made of wood which creates a shadow shaped like a hand, which gets The Narrator’s attention. It’s pretty unclear why this change took place.

The Narrator’s Cheek

In the book, we are told of The Narrator having his cheek injured so badly during a fight that there is a hole present for the entire rest of the story. As this isn’t particularly necessary for plot exposition, this doesn’t happen in the film.

The reason behind its exclusion was probably a practical one. If they’d left it in, then Edward Norton would have to have a hole edited into his face for the entire shoot, which seems needlessly complex and expensive, when it could just be cut with no detriment to the film.

Fictional Fights

Brad Pitt after a brutal fight scene in Fight Club

One of the funnier scenes in the film comes when Tyler Durden and The Narrator talk about a variety of fictional celebrity fights they wish to have one day. They agree quite a lot with each other (probably because, spoiler alert, they’re the same person), but choose some very strange names.

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The list includes Abraham Lincoln, fair enough that would be an interesting fight; Gandhi, which seems a little unfair, given his stance on violence; and, for some reason, William Shatner from Star Trek.

The Narrator’s Viewpoint

This particular change seems to actually make more sense in the film. When Project Mayhem takes off, we see The Narrator become increasingly concerned with how far it is being taken. On top of this, The Narrator isn’t aware that Tyler created the project.

This makes sense because Tyler is the aggressive, chaotic part of his personality. In the book, the divide between the two personalities doesn’t seem as strong, because The Narrator doesn’t express the same aversion. They also start the project together, with The Narrator complicit in the whole thing.

Marla Outing The Narrator

Marla steals clothes from a laundromat in Fight Club

Marla is pretty messed up herself. Spending her life carrying out the same fake support group life as The Narrator and fresh from a suicide attempt, you can’t expect her to remain fully stable.

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However, outing The Narrator to the rest of their support group by telling them he doesn’t actually have cancer is a particularly dramatic move on her part. In the film, this simply doesn’t happen at all.

Tyler The Martyr

Tyler Durden sitting in a hotel room in Fight Club

In the book, Tyler’s initial plan is to remain inside the skyscraper as it explodes. His thought process is that it would turn him into a martyr for the cause. It’s a complex situation because The Narrator realizes his plan and tries to stop it, even though Tyler only exists in his head.

Obviously his plan doesn’t work, so it seems the film cut this motivation as it ended up having very little impact on the story. Instead, the film shows The Narrator and Marla watching the success of Project Mayhem from a distance, with its explosion not impacting them at all.

The Ending

Fight Club's ending scene

The very ending of Fight Club might well be the biggest change of all. The iconic final shot of the film sees Marla and The Narrator watching their impressive fireworks display of explosions while The Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’ plays in the background.

The books don’t show this, and it ends on a very different note. The Narrator is in a mental institution and reveals that various members of Project Mayhem are still carrying out the wishes of Tyler Durden, eagerly awaiting his return. Of course, the books have had two comic book sequels, while the perfection of the film hasn’t yet been touched by a sequel...

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