Joe Eszterhas

Eszterhás was born in Csákánydoroszló, a village in Hungary to Roman Catholic parents, Mária (née Bíró) and István Eszterhás.[1] Eszterhas lived as a child in a refugee camp in Austria. The family eventually moved to New York City, and then to immigrant neighborhoods in Cleveland, where Eszterhas spent most of his childhood.[1][2] Eszterhas learned, at age 45, that his father had concealed his World War II collaboration in the Hungarian government after the German occupation of Hungary and that he had "organized book burnings and had produced anti-Semitic propaganda."[3]^p.201 After this discovery, he cut his father out of his life entirely, never reconciling before his father's death.[4]

Eszterhas went on to be a senior editor from 1971 to 1975 for Rolling Stone. He became a National Book Award nominee for his nonfiction work Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse in 1974.[5] Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing (1974)[6] involved Eszterhas and is one of only two false light cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. As a reporter for The Plain Dealer, Eszterhas covered the aftermath of the collapse of a bridge across the Ohio River.[7] The article included a supposed interview of the widow of one of the fatal victims of the collapse. Months after the accident, he and a photographer visited the home of Margaret Cantrell. She was not home, but he talked to the children as the photographer took photos. His Sunday magazine feature focused on the family's poverty and contained several inaccuracies. Eszterhas had made it seem as though he spoke to her, describing her mood and attitude in the story. Cantrell filed suit for invasion of privacy, and won a $60,000 judgment in her favor. The decision was overturned in the Court of Appeals on First Amendment grounds, but in the end, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the original judgment in her favor.[6]

Eszterhas' first produced screenplay was F.I.S.T., directed by Norman Jewison. Eszterhas contributed to the script of 1983's highly successful Flashdance, and wrote the screenplays for Jagged Edge, Jade, Betrayed, Sliver, and Basic Instinct. In 1989, Eszterhas planned to leave Creative Artists Agency because an old friend was restarting his agency. Michael Ovitz, then the chairman of CAA, threatened to prevent CAA actors from acting in Eszterhas' future projects. Eszterhas wrote a letter that loosened the stranglehold that CAA had on Hollywood.[8]

In 1995, Eszterhas wrote Showgirls, which won that year's Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Screenplay". Despite the negative press, the film enjoyed cult success on the home video market, generating more than $100 million from video rentals[9] and became one of MGM's top twenty all-time bestsellers.[10]

Following the success of Basic Instinct, Eszterhas produced two films in 1997, both of which he wrote: Telling Lies in America and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. Burn Hollywood Burn, about a director named Alan Smithee who films a big-budget bomb and then tries to destroy it, flopped at the box office. It did win several Golden Raspberry Awards, four of them awarded to Eszterhas himself: Worst Picture (Eszterhas was the film's uncredited producer), Worst Screenplay, and both Worst New Star and Worst Supporting Actor for a brief on-screen cameo.

The failure of Burn Hollywood Burn took a toll on Eszterhas' career: none of the screenplays he wrote between 1997 and 2006 were produced. However, Children of Glory, a Hungarian language film based upon his screenplay, was released in 2006. The film focuses upon both the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Blood in the Water match at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Children of Glory was entered by invitation in the official section of 2007 Berlin Film Festival.

In 2011, it was announced that actor-director Mel Gibson had commissioned a screenplay from Eszterhas: a historical biopic on Judah and The Maccabees, titled M.C.K.B.I.[11] The film was to be distributed by Warner Bros. The announcement generated controversy.[12] In a 2008 interview, Eszterhas had written that "Mel shared the mind-set of Adolf Hitler."[3]

In a February 2012 interview with Andrew Goldman of The New York Times, Goldman said to Eszterhas: "[Gibson's] film The Passion of the Christ was widely considered anti-Semitic. Then, during a 2006 arrest for drunken driving, he ranted that 'the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.' Is he the right director?" Eszterhas' reply was: "... Adam Fogelson, Universal Pictures' chairman, said to [Gibson], 'Why do you want to do this story?' Mel said, 'Because I think I should.' I liked that answer very much." When asked about their shared Catholic faith, Eszterhas said of Gibson, "In my mind, his Catholicism is a figment of his imagination."[13] By April 2012, Warner Bros. had cancelled the project; the film's last draft was dated February 20, 2012.[11] Eszterhas claimed the break was caused by Gibson's violent outbursts and anti-Semitism,[14] while Gibson blamed a bad script.[15] Eszterhas later wrote a book, Heaven and Mel, about his experiences working with Gibson.[16]

Eszterhas has written several best-selling books, including Hollywood Animal, an autobiography about politics in Hollywood,[17] which superimposes his life as a young immigrant in the United States on his life as a powerful Hollywood player. A third book, The Devil's Guide to Hollywood, was published in September 2006.[18]

His book Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith was published in 2008.[3] It tells the story of his return to the Roman Catholic Church and his new-found devotion to God and family after surviving a throat cancer diagnosis in 2001. Eszterhas admitted smoking four packs of Salem Light cigarettes a day, as well as drinking heavily.[19] He underwent surgery to remove 80% of his larynx, and had a trachea fitted.[20]

Eszterhas wrote a book about his experiences with Mel Gibson and anti-Semitism, titled Heaven and Mel, wherein he portrays Gibson as a man fueled only by hatred, prone to violent outbursts.[21] Among many damning statements is Eszterhas' claim that while staying at Gibson's Costa Rican estate to work on a script, he became so afraid that he slept with a golf club in his hand.[22]

In 1974, Eszterhas married Gerri Javor. They had two children together and divorced in 1994. That same year, Eszterhas married Naomi Bakar, and they had four children. In 1990, Eszterhas learned that his father was then being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for writing anti-Semitic propaganda in Hungary during the 1930s and early 1940s. He refused further contact with his father after this revelation, which he later claimed to have regretted, saying "When [my father] was in a Hungarian old-age home, the nurses kept calling and saying, 'He's dying, and he needs to see you.' Not going was a huge mistake. I’ve asked God to forgive me, but I don’t think I’ll be forgiven."[13] Eszterhas is a Republican.[23]

• F.I.S.T. (1978) – received fee of $85,000 for the script[24] but a record price of $400,000 for the novelisation[25]
• Flashdance (1983)
• Blue Thunder (1983) – uncredited rewrite in five days; Eszterhas claims he came up with the ending
• Pals (early 1980s)
• Jagged Edge (1985)
• Big Shots (1987) – sold for $1.25 million
• Hearts of Fire (1987)
• Betrayed (1988)
• Checking Out (1989)
• Music Box (1989)
• Basic Instinct (1992) – received $3 million
• Nowhere to Run (1993)
• Sliver (1993)
• Showgirls (1995) – sold for $2 million[26]
• Jade (1995) – paid $1.5 million for a two-page outline plus $400,000 to executive produce[27]
• One Night Stand (1997) – paid a record $2.5 million for a four-page outline, with an additional $1.5 million to be paid once filming had started.[28] Eszterhas' original script was changed so much he took his name off
• Telling Lies in America (1997)
• An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)
• Children of Glory (2006)

• 13 Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State, Dodd: Mead 1970, with Michael Roberts
• Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse, New York: Random House, 1973, ISBN 0-394-48424-X, OCLC 650572.
• Nark!, San Francisco: Straight Arrow Books, 1974
• American Rhapsody, Vintage, 2001, ISBN 978-0-375-41144-1, OCLC 44602385
• Hollywood Animal, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, ISBN 0-375-41355-3, OCLC 52858561.
• The Devil's Guide to Hollywood, 2006, ISBN 978-0-312-35987-4, OCLC 65207145.
• Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith, St. Martin's Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-312-38596-5, OCLC 213300974.
• Heaven and Mel, Amazon Kindle Single, 2012, ASIN B0087PTQ96

• Joe Eszterhas at IMDb
• Article in Slate
• Article in The Plain Dealer
• Article in The Christian Post
• Joe Eszterhas on Screenwriting on YouTube