From sparring with Rupert Murdoch to gaining David Fincher’s respect, the behind-the-scenes battle to bring Fight Club to screen was as twisty as the movie’s plot.
Jason Guerrasio
April 20, 2026
Business Insider
When Bill Mechanic was the chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, he had one simple operating principle: Get in trouble.
Though his tenure as studio head from 1996 to 2000 was filled with hits, including blockbusters like Independence Day, Titanic, and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Mechanic was also known for being one of the few who listened to his gut and greenlit material considered uncommercial.
On his watch, the studio released the gory best picture winner Braveheart, the Farrelly brothers‘ gross-out hit comedy There’s Something About Mary, and the now-beloved Office Space.
Taking risks on offbeat movies gained Mechanic respect around Hollywood, but it also ruffled feathers among his bosses.
At the time, Fox was owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., and Mechanic said the Australian-born billionaire was rarely a fan of what his studio was releasing.
“I always thought what Rupert wanted was Page Six,” Mechanic told Business Insider, comparing the mogul’s movie tastes to what showed up in the gossip column of the Murdoch-owned New York Post. “He didn’t think movies were there to challenge.”
Mechanic would famously test his boss’s patience when he gave the green light to adapt a book by a then-little-known author named Chuck Palahniuk. It was called Fight Club.
The Fincher Analyst 