<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $63 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $100.9 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk . The film was directed by David Fincher, and stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter . Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, referred to as the narrator, who is discontented with his white - collar job . He forms a "fight club" with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and they are joined by men who also want to fight recreationally . The narrator becomes embroiled in a relationship with Durden and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter . </P> <P> Palahniuk's novel was optioned by 20th Century Fox producer Laura Ziskin, who hired Jim Uhls to write the film adaptation . Fincher was one of four directors the producers considered, and was selected because of his enthusiasm for the film . Fincher developed the script with Uhls and sought screenwriting advice from the cast and others in the film industry . The director and the cast compared the film to Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and The Graduate (1967). They said its theme was the conflict between a generation of young people and the value system of advertising . The director copied the homoerotic overtones from Palahniuk's novel to make audiences uncomfortable and keep them from anticipating the twist ending . </P>

Who is the main character in fight club