How 'Fight Club' went from studio rejections to David Fincher's film

A film-history thread says producer Ross Bell sent a six-hour reading of Chuck Palahniuk's novel to Fox 2000 founder Laura Ziskin, who bought the rights for $10,000. After other directors did not take the job, David Fincher signed on despite a bad experience with Fox on 'Alien 3.' The thread also says Fincher told Edward Norton to hit Brad Pitt for real in their first fight scene; Norton accidentally struck Pitt's ear.