Brad Pitt received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle", Pitt was unable to "make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity." Roger Ebert stated "Pitt is a fine actor, but this performance is a miscalculation." In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden in "Fight Club", a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher. Pitt prepared for the part with lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. To look the part, Pitt consented to the removal of pieces of his
Chuck Palahniuk and "Diary" also were sold. While little is known about some of these projects, it is known that Jessica Biel was signed on to play the roles of both Shannon and Brandy in "Invisible Monsters", which was supposed to begin filming in 2004, but is still in development. Palahniuk helped write some of the video game "Manhunt 2" in his freelance writing in 2007. On January 14, 2008, the film version of "Choke" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, starring Sam Rockwell, Kelly Macdonald and Anjelica Huston with Clark Gregg directing. David Fincher has expressed interest in filming "Diary" as