The side of the plane SHEARS OFF! Screaming PASSENGERS are
sucked out into the night air, flying past the quivering
wind. Magazines and other objects fly everywhere.
JACK (V.O.)
Life insurance pays off triple if you
die on a business trip.
Jack remains in his same position, same bland expression.
DING! -- the seatbelt light goes OUT. Jack SNAPS AWAKE.
EVERYTHING IS NORMAL. Some passengers get out of their
seats. From next to Jack, a VOICE we've heard before...
VOICE
There are three ways to make napalm.
One, mix equal parts of gasoline and
frozen orange juice...
Jack turns to see TYLER. Without turned to Jack, Tyler
continues:
TYLER
Two, equal parts gasoline and diet
cola. Three, dissolve kitty-litter
in gasoline until the mixture is
thick.
JACK
Pardon me?
Tyler turns to Jack.
JACK (V.O.)
This is how I met --
TYLER
Tyler Durden.
Tyler offers his hand. Jack takes it.
TYLER
You know why they have oxygen masks
on planes?
JACK
No, supply oxygen?
TYLER
Oxygen gets you high. In a
catastrophic emergency, we're taking
giant, panicked breaths...
Tyler grabs a safety instruction CARD from the seatback,
hands it to Jack.
TYLER
Suddenly, we become euphoic and
docile. We accept our fate.
Tyler points to passive faces on the drawn figures.
TYLER
Emergency water landing, 600 miles
per hour. Blank faces -- calm as
Hindu cows.
Jack laughs.
JACK
What do you do, Tyler?
TYLER
What do you want me to do?
JACK
I mean -- for a living.
TYLER
Why? So you can say, "Oh, that's
what you do." -- And be a smug little
shit about it?
Jack laughs. Tyler reaches under the seat in front of him
and lifts a BRIEFCASE.
TYLER
You have a kind of sick desperation
in your laugh.
Jack points to his own briefcase.
JACK
We have the same briefcase.
Tyler turns the top of his briefcase toward Jack.
TYLER
Open it.
Jack looks at Tyler, then pops the latches and raises the
lid to reveal quaintly-wrapped bars of SOAP.
TYLER
Soap -- the yardstick of civilization.
(reaches in his pocket)
I make and sell soap...
Tyler hands Jack his card. "THE PAPER STREET SOAP COMPANY."
TYLER
If you were to add nitric acid to the
soap-making process, one would get
nitroglycerin. With enough soap, one
could blow up the world, if one were
so inclined.
Tyler SNAPS the briefcase shut. Jack stares.
JACK
Tyler, you are by far the most
interesting "single-serving" friend
I've ever met.
Tyler stares back. Jack, enjoying his own chance to be
witty, leans closer to Tyler.
JACK
You see, when you travel, everything
is small, self-contained--
TYLER
The spork. I get it. You're very
clever.
JACK
Thank you.
TYLER
How's that working out for you?
JACK
What?
TYLER
Being clever.
JACK
(thrown)
Well, uh... great.
TYLER
Keep it up, then. Keep it right up.
Tyler stands, looks towards the aisle.
TYLER
... As I squeeze past, do I give you
the ass or the crotch?
Tyler moves to the aisle, his ass toward jack, walks away...
TYLER
We are defined by the choices we make.
Tyler goes to the curtain dividing First Class, slaps the
curtain aside and sits in an empty seat. Jack watches.
JACK (V.O.)
How I came to live with Tyler is:
airlines have this policy about
vibrating luggage.
INT. BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA - NIGHT
Utterly empty of baggage. No people except for Jack and a
SECURITY TASK FORCE MAN. The Security TFM, smirking, holds
a receiver to his ear from an official phone on the wall.
SECURITY TFM
(to Jack)
Throwers don't worry about ticking.
Modern bombs don't tick.
JACK
Excuse me? "Throwers?"
SECURITY TFM
Baggage handlers. But when a
suitcase vibrates, the throwers have
to call the police.
JACK
My suitcase was vibrating?
SECURITY TFM
Nine time out of ten, it's an
electric razor. But, every once in
a while ...
(whispers)
...it's a dildo. It's airline policy
not to imply ownership in the event
of a dildo. We use the indefinite
aricle: "A dildo." Never "Your
dildo."
Jack sees, through the window, Tyler, at the curb, throwing
his briefcase into the back of a shiny, red CONVERTIBLE.
Tyler leaps over the door into the driver's seat and PEELS
OUT. jack turns away, looks at the Security TFM.
In the background, a HARRIED MAN dashes after Tyler and the
convertible, SCREAMING.
JACK
(to Security TFM)
I had everything in that bag. My
C.K. shirts... my D.K.N.Y. shoes...
SECURITY TFM
(into phone)
Yeah, uh huh... yeah?
(pause, still on phone)
Oh...
EXT. EMPTY RUNWAY
A lone SUITCASE sits on the concrete. SECURITY PERSONNEL
keep their distance. KABOOM! The suitcase explodes.
INT. BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA - RESUMING
The Security TFM, shakes his head, hangs up.
SECURITY TFM
I'm terribly sorry.
The Security TFM hands Jack a claim form. Jack snatches it,
disgusted, takes out a pen, starts filling out the form.
SECURITY TFM
You know the industry slang for
"Flight Attendant?" "Air Mattress."
INT. TAXI - MOVING - NIGHT
Along a residential street. Jack looks ahead, sees a tall,
grey, bland BUILDING on the corner.
JACK (V.O.)
Home was a condo on the fifteenth
floor of a filing cabinet for widows
and young professionals. The walls
were solid concrete. A foot of
concrete is important when your next-
door neighbor lets her hearing aid go
and has to watch game shows at full
volume...
The taxi turns a corner and Jack sees the front of the
building. A diffuse CLOUD of SMOKE wafts away from a BLOWN-
OUT SECTION of the fifteenth floor. FIRETRUCKS, POLICE CARS
and a MOB are all crowded around the lobby area.
JACK (V.O.)
-- Or when a volcanic blast of debris
that used to be your furniture and
personal effects blows out your floor-
to-ceiling windows and sails flaming
into the night.
EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF BUILDING
Jack, gaping at the sight above him, absently gives the
Cabbie money. The taxi pulls away. Jack starts toward the
building. He pushes through the fray of people, into the...
INT. LOBBY
The DOORMAN sees Jack enter, gives a sad smile, shakes his
head. Jack starts for the elevator.
DOORMAN
There's nothing up there.
Jack presses the button. The Doorman moves next to him.
DOORMAN
You can't go into the unit. Police
orders.
The elevator doors open. Jack hesitates. The doors close.
Jack heads out the lobby doors. The Doorman follows...
EXT. CONDO BUILDING - CONTINUOUS
Jack walks past SMOKING, CHARRED DEBRIS -- a flash of ORANGE
from the Yang table, a CLOCK FACE from the hall clock, part
of an arm from the GREEN ARMCHAIR. His feet CRUNCH glass.
JACK (V.O.)
How embarrassing.
DOORMAN
Do you have somebody you can call?
Jack comes to his REFRIGERATOR lying on its side. He
reaches down and takes a note: "MARLA --" and a phone
number, from under a BANANA MAGNET.
CLOSE SHOT - JACK'S STOVE
Hissing.
JACK (V.O.)
The police would later tell me that
the pilot light might have gone
out... letting out just a little bit
of gas.
EXT. PAYPHONE - RESUMING
Jack gets to a PAYPHONE. The Doorman follows, watching him.
DOORMAN
Lots of young people try to impress
the world and buy too many things.
Jack picks up the receiver, puts in a quarter. He looks at
Marla's number a long moment.
CLOSE SHOT - JACK'S ENTIRE CONDO - KITCHEN AND LIVING ROOM
The SOUND of the HISS...
JACK (V.O.)
The gas could have slowly filled the
condo. Seventeen-hundred square feet
with high ceilings, for days and days.
EXT. PAYPHONE - RESUMING
Jack replaces the receiver. He pockets Marla's number, digs
out a small FILOFAX. He flips through the pages for phone
numbers and addresses. Most of the pages are blank.
DOORMAN
Many young people feel trapped and
desperate.
INSERT - CLOSE ON THE BASE OF JACK'S REFRIGERATOR
JACK (V.O.)
Then, the refrigerator's compressor
could have clicked on...
Click. KABOOM! SCREEN GOES WHITE.
EXT. PAYPHONE - RESUMING
Jack looks at the Doorman. Tyler's BUSINESS CARD falls from
the Filofax. Jack catches it.
DOORMAN
If you don't know what you want, you
end up with a lot you don't.
The Doorman walks away. Jack stares at Tyler's card.
JACK (V.O.)
If you asked me now, I couldn't tell
you why I called him.
Jack re-deposits the quarter, dials Tyler's number. It
RINGS... and RINGS and RINGS. Jack sighs and hangs up the
phone. A moment, then the phone RINGS.
JACK
Hello?
TYLER'S VOICE
Who's this?
JACK
Tyler?
TYLER'S VOICE
Who's this?
JACK
Uh... I'm sorry. We met on the
plane. We had the same briefcase.
I'm... you know, the clever guy.
TYLER'S VOICE
Oh, yeah.
JACK
I just called a second ago. There
was no answer. I'm at a payphone.
TYLER'S VOICE
I star-sixty-nined you. I never pick
up my phone. What's up?
JACK
Well... let me see... here's the
thing...
EXT. LOU'S TAVERN - NIGHT
A small building in the middle of a concrete parking lot.
INT. LOU'S TAVERN - SAME
Jack and Tyler sit in the back, with a pitcher of BEER.
JACK
You buy furniture. You tell
yourself: this is the last sofa I'll
ever need. No matter what else
happens, I've got the sofa issue
handled. Then, the right set of
dishes. The right dinette.
TYLER
This is how we fill up our lives.
Tyler lights a cigarette.
JACK
I guess so.
TYLER
And, now it's gone.
JACK
All gone.
Tyler offers cigarettes. Jack declines.
TYLER
Could be worse. A woman could cut
off your penis while you're asleep
and toss it out the window of a
moving car.
JACK
There's always that.
TYLER
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe
it's a terrible tragedy.
JACK
...no ...no ...
TYLER
I mean, you did lose a lot of nice,
neat little shit. The trendy paper
lamps, the Euro-trash shelving unit,
am I right?
Jack laughs, nods. He shakes his head, drinks.
TYLER
But maybe, just maybe, you've been
delivered.
JACK
(toasts)
Delivered from Swedish furniture.
TYLER
Delivered from armchairs in obscure
green stripe patterns.
JACK
Delivered from Martha Stewart.
TYLER
Delivered from bullshit colors like
"Cobalt," "Ebony," and "Fuchsia."
They laugh together. Then, silence. They drink.
JACK
Insurance'll cover it.
TYLER
Oh, yeah, you gotta start making the
list.
JACK
What list?
TYLER
The "now I get to go out and buy the
exact same stuff all over again"
list. That list.
JACK
I don't... think so.
TYLER
This time maybe get a widescreen TV.
You'll be occupied for weeks.
JACK
Well, I have to file a claim...
TYLER
The things you own, they end up
owning you.
JACK
Don't I?
TYLER
Do what you like.
JACK
(looks at watch)
God, it's late. I should find a
hotel...
TYLER
A hotel?
JACK
Yeah.
TYLER
So, you called me up, because you
just wanted to have a drink before
you... go find a hotel?
JACK
I don't follow...
TYLER
We're on our third pitcher of beer.
Just ask me.
JACK
Huh?
TYLER
You called me so you could have a
place to stay.
JACK
No, I...
TYLER
Why don't you cut the shit and ask if
you can stay at my place?
JACK
Would that be a problem?
TYLER
Is it a problem for you to ask?
JACK
Can I stay at your place?
TYLER
Yes, you can.
JACK
Thank you.
TYLER
You're welcome. But, I want you to
do me one favor.
JACK
What's that?
TYLER
I want you to hit me as hard as you
can.
JACK
What?
TYLER
I want you to hit me as hard as you
can.
Freeze picture.
JACK (V.O.)
Let me tell you a little bit about
Tyler Durden.