Fight Club is widely considered one of the finest films of the 1990s, despite being a box office disappointment that preceded the exit of Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Bill Mechanic. The David Fincher film has continued to garner fan interest and remains a cult classic. Mechanic recently spoke about the reaction former Fox boss Rupert Murdoch had upon seeing the film. He also discussed a tribute he included in it.

Bill Mechanic talks about Fight Club

Bill Mechanic, former CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, recently discussed the iconic Fight Club in an interview with Business Insider ahead of the film’s 4K re-release. Fight Club has since become a cult classic. Although it did not perform well at the box office when it was released in theaters in 1999.

Mechanic was part of the project. Before Fight Club, he oversaw several major hits for the studio, including Die Hard with a Vengeance, Independence Day, and Titanic. All of these were among the highest-grossing films of their respective years.

However, this was not enough to convince Rupert Murdoch. At the time, Murdoch’s News Corp owned Fox. The company also owned Page Six. Murdoch reportedly wanted Fox to follow a similar approach, favoring more commercially driven projects over artistically inclined ones.

“He didn’t think movies were there to challenge,” Mechanic said about his former boss.

As a result, Fight Club did not resonate with Murdoch. “[Rupert] started attacking, and he said, ‘What kind of sick fucking human being would make a movie like this?’ I said, ‘Me. David Fincher. We’re not embarrassed,” Mechanic recalled about Murdoch’s reaction to the film.

“I knew he hadn’t seen the movie yet,” Mechanic continued. “That’s probably the nexus of when he wanted to get rid of me.”

Mechanic also revealed that he asked Fincher if they could include the Fox Plaza Tower in the film’s ending sequence. He said, “David took me through the sequence. I think I was up in the actual building talking to him, and I asked David if he would put the Fox building in there for my tribute to Rupert.” Mechanic added, “I just realized I went to work for the wrong person. I think I got movies made that wouldn’t have been made, and there’s a price to pay.”