The performances are iconic and indelible
I want you to imagine Russell Crowe telling Matt Damon to hit him as hard as he could, or Reese Witherspoon chain-smoking in a cancer support group. Believe it or not, those three actors were the top choices for the roles eventually given to Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, respectively.
To imagine Fight Club without its three main actors is definitely challenging, considering the top tier work they offered. All had something to prove. Pitt had to shed his matinee idol image after flops like Seven Years in Tibet and Meet Joe Black and return to the zaniness of his turns in Twelve Monkeys (that earned him an Oscar nomination) and True Romance. Norton had to prove to Hollywood he could anchor a major film, after acclaimed, edgy turns in Primal Fear and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Carter had to expand her range: the British actor was best known in North America for a little-seen drama, The Wings of the Dove, which earned her an Oscar nomination.
All deliver outstanding work that ranks among the top performances of their careers. As Tyler, who was later voted by Empire Magazine as the greatest character of all time, Pitt is dangerous and dangerously cool. Who better to portray a “charmed id,” as he says on the film’s DVD commentary? As the Narrator, Norton taps into the insecurity and the anxiety of the modern man, showing off just the right amount of edge and vulnerability to tap into our own primal fears. As Marla, Carter owns the screen as a woman who initially appears as a sly demon on the protagonist’s shoulder, but who ultimately becomes a tragic half of one of the strangest love triangles in cinema history. She is fiery but achingly vulnerable in the role.
Without these tremendous performers attached, it may have been harder to accept the psychologically induced narrative conceit that controls the story. Their engrossing turns helped to invest millions in the depth and the darkness of this riveting film.