In another rock and roll tale of what could have been, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke once turned down the opportunity to create a score for the now-iconic cult film. fight club.
The film, which was directed by David Fincher and starred Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter and Jared Leto, garnered critical acclaim and is now considered by many to be one of the best films of the 1990s and of all. . weather.
“A depressed man (Edward Norton) suffering from insomnia meets a strange soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and soon finds himself living in his miserable house after his perfect apartment is destroyed,” reads the official synopsis for the movie. “The two bored men form an underground club with strict rules and fight against other men who are fed up with their mundane lives. Their picture-perfect partnership falls apart when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), a fellow outsider from the support group, attracts Tyler’s attention.”
fight club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival, the same venue that hosted the world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s horror remake sigh – the film that marked Yorke’s first attempt at writing a soundtrack.
Weather sigh marked a new direction for Yorke, it is not the first time that he has been contacted to create music to accompany a feature film. Sitting down with BBC 6 Music on the day he released his new song ‘Has Ended’, Yorke spoke about his past opportunities: “Things come to my office, but they haven’t really affected me,” Yorke began.
“The one I remember is one from years ago after we finished ‘OK Computer’ and I was completely insane,” he continued.
Yorke added: “I was asked to do fight club. They sent me the script and Ed and Brad Pitt wrote me and said, ‘We really think you should do this.’ I said ‘No, I can’t’. I couldn’t. I couldn’t have done it then, but every time I see the movie I go ‘awww’”.
Reflecting on his state of mind at the time, Yorke added: “I got the email. I have the script,” she said. The Guardian. “And I was too screwed up in the head to do it.”
Yorke added: “I had just gotten off tour. He was mentally incapable of even tying my shoes.”
Having seen Yorke turn down the opportunity due to his rampant stress levels, director Fincher instead turned his attention to the producing duo of the Dust Brothers. The producers, Michael Simpson and John King, built their reputations in the hip-hop arena before working with the Beastie Boys established them as major players. Emerging from their secure environment, the Dust Brothers got their start during the 1990s, working with the likes of Beck, Mötley Crüe and Korn before Fincher and Fight Club came calling
Speaking about the project, Michael Simpson once explained the setup: “Fincher wanted to break new ground with everything about the film, and a non-traditional score helped achieve that.”
In a separate interview, Simpson said of the collaboration: “Although it was guided by the movie, David Fincher wasn’t on our shoulders telling us what to do. He basically said, ‘Did you see The graduate?’ And I said, ‘Yes’. And he said, ‘Do you know how great the music is in that movie?’ And I said, ‘Yes’. And Fincher says, ‘I want the music to fight club be so big. And that was the only address I got from him. So that project was another project that was just a pure expression of my creativity with no one telling me what to do.”
Follow Far Out Magazine through our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
