Long ago, in the ancient times known as 1999, Rosie O’Donnell had one of the most popular talk shows in America, which gave her access to all kinds of things like an advanced screening of Fight Club. As the legend goes, and O’Donnell will fully admit to this, she was so disgusted by the violence and the themes in Fight Club that she went on her talk show and proceeded to spoil the twist ending in hopes that her national audience wouldn’t go see the film. She blurted the whole thing out.
While the moment has been referenced by Brad Pitt in the Fight Club DVD commentary (and actors like Holt McCallany, who brought up the Rosie incident during an interview for the film’s 20th anniversary), O’Donnell had never fully addressed the topic until now. During an interview with The Jess Cagle Show on Monday, O’Donnell revealed that for years she never realized what a huge deal it was at the time. She just figured it was another one of her rants. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
“No one said jack shit to me for a good three, maybe even four years,” O’Donnell said on the SiriusXM show. “And Courtney Love on my show says, ‘Oh, my God, Ed Norton and Brad Pitt are so mad at you for what you did.’ I was like ‘What did I do?’ It was three years later! People sometimes ask me on the internet whether or not I did it. And I did. I didn’t have, like. ‘Oh, my God. I want to hurt these people.’ I just had my normal blathering on about feelings about the movie.”
While O’Donnell has always owned up to spoiling the film’s ending on her talk show, she now realizes that it wasn’t the best move on her part.
“I guess I ruined it for the people who worked so hard on it, and I should be more careful with what I say in a negative way about a movie,” O’Donnell admitted. “If you don’t like it, just don’t mention it. That would have worked better.”
(Via The Jess Cagle Show)
