Brad Pitt filmography film "Fight Club" (1999) in a role that required him learn boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. A critical and commercial success, the film has since developed a cult status. Pitt portrayed Rusty Ryan in the commercially successful heist film series "Ocean's Trilogy" (2001–07). In 2002, he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his guest appearance in the sitcom "Friends". Also that year, Pitt started a production company, Plan B Entertainment, whose first release was the epic war film "Troy" (2004), starring Pitt. He played an assassin opposite Angelina Jolie in the commercially successful action comedy "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005).
Chuck Palahniuk his father, Fred Palahniuk, had started dating a woman named Donna Fontaine, whom he had met through a personal ad under the title "Kismet". Her former boyfriend, Dale Shackelford, had previously been imprisoned for sexual abuse, and had vowed to kill Fontaine as soon as he was released from prison. Palahniuk believes that, using a personal ad, Fontaine was looking for "the biggest man she could find" to protect her from Shackelford, and Palahniuk's father qualified. After his release, Shackelford followed Fontaine and the senior Palahniuk to Fontaine's home in Kendrick, Idaho after they had gone out for a date.