Chuck Palahniuk agent, Edward Hibbert, Hibbert eventually guided and brokered the deal that took "Fight Club" to the big screen. In 1999, three years after the novel's publication, the film adaptation by director David Fincher was released. The film was a box office disappointment (although it was #1 at the U.S. box office in its first weekend) and critical reaction was mixed, but a cult following soon emerged as the DVD of the film became popular upon release. Three editions of the novel have been published in paperback, in 1999, in 2004 (with a new introduction by the author about the success
Edward Norton breaking through with his 1993 involvement in Edward Albee's "Fragments", at the Signature Theatre Company. In his film debut "Primal Fear" (1996), Norton played Aaron Stampler, an altar boy who is charged with the murder of a Roman Catholic archbishop and is defended by Martin Vail (Richard Gere). The film is an adaptation of William Diehl's novel. Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote: "Norton gives a performance that's fully the equal of Gere's – he's as slyly self-effacing as Gere is slyly ostentatious." Alison Macor of "The Austin Chronicle", in review of the film, wrote, "Norton's performance and the well-paced