Chuck Palahniuk time while working for Freightliner. After initially publishing it as a short story (which became chapter 6 of the novel) in the 1995 compilation, "Pursuit of Happiness", Palahniuk expanded it into a full novel, which, contrary to his expectations, the publisher was willing to publish. While the original hardcover edition of the book received positive reviews and some awards, it had a short shelf life. Initially, Palahniuk struggled to find a literary agent and went without one until after the publication of "Fight Club". After he began receiving attention from 20th Century Fox, Palahniuk was signed by actor and literary
The Devil's Advocate (1997 film) Advocate" as a novel, and it was published in 1990 by Simon and Schuster. Believing his story could be adapted into a film, Neiderman approached Warner Bros. and claimed to have led his successful sale with the synopsis "It's about a law firm in New York that represents only guilty people, and never loses". Various screenplay adaptations of "The Devil's Advocate" had been pitched to U.S. cinema studios, with Joel Schumacher planned to direct it with Brad Pitt as the young lawyer. Schumacher planned a sequence in which Pitt would descend into the New York subway system, which would be