Here’s why Fight Club would make a superb opera

15 July 2015, 12:54 | Updated: 6 January 2017, 14:45

According to Chuck Palahniuk and Trent Reznor, an operatic version of Fight Club could be on the way - here’s why it would totally work.

If you believe what you read on Twitter, we could be expecting Fight Club: The Opera sometime soon. We’ve had a look at the plot, the tropes, the characters and… err… Meatloaf: turns out it could be the perfect candidate.

So @chuckpalahniuk told me he's working with David Fincher & @trent_reznor to do a #FightClub rock opera - an enhanced version of the film!

— Jeff Goldsmith (@yogoldsmith) July 11, 2015

The story is perfectly operatic

If you boil it down to its constituent elements, Fight Club is a tale of one man’s life being completely led by the mysterious influence of another. It's a classic tenor/bass, Faust/Mephistopheles situation, or even a Giovanni/Commendatore one.

Duels

Well, the title sort of gives it away, right? You can expect fights. Opera has traded on men duelling to win over the ladies for centuries, and Fight Club’s central premise conforms neatly to that.

Meatloaf

Could the 'Bat Out Of Hell' singer be tempted to reprise his role as Bob, the man with the questionable body enhancements and the traumatised psyche? We think he’s got the pipes for it, and he’s a noted opera fan… perhaps it’s a chance for him to show off his falsetto?

It finishes with the end of the world

Well, with some fairly serious explosions, anyway. How Wagnerian is that?! And if Trent Reznor can sacrifice sleepy noises and experimentation for a moment, a choral version of The Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’ will fit in there perfectly. (A bit NSFW, if you’re wondering.)