Joe Eszterhas | |
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| Born | József Antal Eszterhás (1944-11-23)November 23, 1944 (age 81) |
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| Education | Ohio University |
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| Children | 7 |
József Antal Eszterhás (Hungarian:[ˈjoːʒɛfɒntɒlˈɛstɛrhaːʃ]; born November 23, 1944), credited asJoe Eszterhas, is aHungarian-American writer. Born in Hungary, he grew up inCleveland, Ohio, in the United States. After an early career as a journalist and editor, he entered the film industry. His first screenwriting credit was for the filmF.I.S.T. (1978). He co-wrote the script forFlashdance, which became one of the highest-grossing films of 1983, and set off a lucrative and prolific run for his career. By the early 1990s, he was known as the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, and noted for his work in theerotic thriller genre. He was paid a then-record $3 million for his scriptLove Hurts, which was produced asBasic Instinct (1992), and following its success, news outlets reported he earned seven-figure payouts solely on the basis of two-to-four page outlines.
Eszterhas' screenwriting career experienced a decline over the rest of the decade, with films such asShowgirls (1995),Jade (1995), andAn Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997), the latter receiving negative reviews and performing poorly at the box office. He mostly withdrew from Hollywood afterward, though he has since authored several books. His publications includeAmerican Rhapsody (2000), and two volumes of memoirs:Hollywood Animal (2004), an autobiography, andCrossbearer (2008), which detailed his adulthood return to the Catholic faith he was raised in.
Eszterhás was born inCsákánydoroszló, a village inHungary, to Roman Catholic parents Mária (née Bíró) and István Eszterhás. He was born duringWorld War II, and lived as a child in arefugee camp inAllied-occupied Austria. The family later moved to the United States, living first inPittsburgh before settling inCleveland in 1950, where Eszterhas was raised.[1][2] He attendedOhio University. He decided to pursue writing as a career after winning a competition in 1966 sponsored by theWilliam Randolph Hearst Foundation. The prize was awarded at theWhite House by then-Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey.[3]
When Eszterhas was 45, he learned that his father had concealed hisWorld War II collaboration in Hungary'sArrow Cross Party government after theGerman occupation of Hungary and that he had "organized book burnings and had produced anti-Semitic propaganda."[4]p.201 Eszterhas later described his father's anti-Semitic pamphlets as "like the Hungarian version ofMein Kampf." After this discovery, he cut his father out of his life entirely, never reconciling before his father's death in 2001.[5] He paid for his father's care in later years but was not present at his death, saying in 2024 that "There are moments these many years later that I deeply regret that, and other moments that I'm proud of myself for not going".[6][7]
Eszterhas had a daughter in 1967 who was put up for adoption at birth. They reunited in 1996.[8] Eszterhas had two children with his first wife, Gerri Javor. The couple divorced in 1994 after nearly 24 years of marriage.[9][10][11] That year, he married Naomi Baka, an Ohio native, and they had four sons.[12][3] As of 2022[update], Eszterhas lives in the Cleveland suburb ofBainbridge Township, Ohio.[13][14] After previously living inMalibu, California, he and his wife moved to Bainbridge in 2001, as they felt it provided a better environment to raise their children in.[1][15] During his first marriage, he was a resident ofTiburon, California.[10]
Eszterhas has described himself as an "independent centrist", whose votes for president have includedDemocratsBill Clinton andBarack Obama,IndependentRoss Perot, andRepublicansGeorge W. Bush andDonald Trump.[13][16] He is a supporter of Hungarianprime ministerViktor Orbán.[17] He has described himself as a staunch supporter of Israel.[7]
Eszterhas began his career with a stint at theDayton Journal Herald,[10] before moving toThe Plain Dealer in Cleveland, where he was one of the first reporters to cover theKent State shootings in 1970.[18][13] He and fellowPlain Dealer journalist Michael Roberts spent the next three months reporting on the story, and their work was published as the bookThirteen Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State.[18] Eszterhas later joined the staff ofRolling Stone.[1]
One of Eszterhas' articles forThe Plain Dealer was the subject of a lawsuit. He had covered the aftermath of the collapse of a bridge across the Ohio River.[19] It included a supposed interview of Margaret Cantrell, the widow of one of the fatal victims of the collapse. Months after the accident, he and a photographer visited her home. She was not there at the time, 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 had spoken to her, describing her mood and attitude in the story. Cantrell filed suit for invasion of privacy, and won a $60,000 judgment.[9] The decision was overturned in the Court of Appeals onFirst Amendment grounds but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the original award.[20]Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing (1974) is one of only twofalse light cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.[21]
Eszterhas became aNational Book Award nominee for his nonfiction workCharlie Simpson's Apocalypse in 1974.[22] A studio executive who read the book contacted Eszterhas, telling him that it was "very cinematic" and suggested he could be a screenwriter. This motivated him to change careers and start writing scripts.[3]
Eszterhas' first producedscreenplay wasF.I.S.T., directed byNorman Jewison. Eszterhas contributed to the script of 1983'sFlashdance, and wrote the screenplays forJagged Edge andBetrayed.
In 1989, Eszterhas planned to leaveCreative Artists Agency because an old friendGuy McElwaine was restarting his agency.[12]Michael Ovitz, then the chairman of CAA, threatened to prevent CAA actors from acting in Eszterhas' future projects. Eszterhas penned a letter to Ovitz blasting him for his tactics. Copies of the letter were circulated around Hollywood and the missive was credited with loosening the stranglehold of power that CAA had on the entertainment industry.[23][24][25]
Aspec script Eszterhas wrote originally titledLove Hurts became the subject of a bidding war amongst various production companies in Hollywood, eventually selling for a then-record $3 million in 1990.[26][27] The project eventually materialized intoBasic Instinct, directed by Dutch filmmakerPaul Verhoeven. Released in 1992 to more than $400 million at the box office,Basic Instinct and its success led to Eszterhas becoming one of the most sought-after screenwriters at the time.[26] By some reports, he earned a total of $26 million for the scripts he wrote in the 1990s.[26][28]
The following year, Eszterhas re-teamed withBasic Instinct starSharon Stone for the filmSliver.Sliver did not replicate the box-office success of the former and was critically derided.[26] Eszterhas next wrote the screenplay forShowgirls, his second collaboration with director Verhoeven.Showgirls, which debuted in 1995, was seen as a critical and financial disaster, winning the year'sGolden Raspberry Award for "Worst Screenplay". Despite the negative press, the film enjoyed cult success in thehome video market, generating more than $100 million from video rentals[29] and becoming one ofMGM's top twenty all-time bestsellers.[30]Jade, whose script Eszterhas sold in the wake ofBasic Instinct's success,[31] was released three weeks later to low grosses and negative reviews.[26] The one-two punch of back-to-backbox-office bombs in the same year saw Eszterhas' reputation as the highest-paid screenwriter take a hit.[26]
In 1997, Eszterhas produced two films, both of which he wrote:Telling Lies in America andAn Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn.Burn Hollywood Burn, which is about a director namedAlan Smithee who films a big-budget bomb and then tries to destroy it, flopped at the box office. It won severalGolden Raspberry Awards, five of them awarded to Eszterhas himself:Worst Picture (Eszterhas was the film's uncredited producer),Worst Screenplay,Worst Original Song, and bothWorst New Star andWorst Supporting Actor for a brief on-screen cameo.[32]
The failure ofBurn Hollywood Burn further affected Eszterhas' career: none of the screenplays he wrote between 1997 and 2006 were produced. However,Children of Glory, aHungarian language film based upon his screenplay, was released in 2006. The film focuses upon both the1956 Hungarian Revolution and theBlood in the Water match at the1956 Melbourne Olympics.Children of Glory was entered by invitation in the official section of the 2007Berlin Film Festival.[33]
In 2011, it was announced actor-directorMel Gibson had commissioned Eszterhas to write a screenplay: a historical biopic onJudah and theMaccabees, titledM.C.K.B.I.[34] The film was to be distributed byWarner Bros. The announcement generated controversy.[35] In a 2008 interview, Eszterhas wrote that "Mel shared the mind-set ofAdolf Hitler."[4]
In a February 2012 interview with Andrew Goldman ofThe New York Times, Goldman said to Eszterhas: "[Gibson's] filmThe 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 [for the film about Judah Maccabee]?" Eszterhas replied: "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."[6]
By April 2012, Warner Bros. had canceled the Maccabee project; the film's last draft was dated February 20, 2012.[34] Eszterhas claimed the break was caused by Gibson's violent outbursts and anti-Semitism,[36] while Gibson blamed a bad script.[37] Eszterhas later wrote a book,Heaven and Mel, about his experiences working with Gibson.[38]
Eszterhas has written several best-selling books, includingHollywood Animal, an autobiography about politics in Hollywood,[39] which superimposes his life as a young immigrant in the United States on his life as a powerfulHollywood player. His bookThe Devil's Guide to Hollywood was published in September 2006.[40]
His bookCrossbearer: A Memoir of Faith was published in 2008.[4] It tells the story of his return to theRoman Catholic Church and his new-found devotion to God and family after surviving athroat cancer diagnosis in 2001. Eszterhas admitted smoking four packs of Salem Light cigarettes a day, as well as drinking heavily.[10] He underwent surgery to remove 80% of his larynx, and had a trachea fitted.[41] In 2002, he publicly apologized for glamorizing smoking in his films, making this apology in part due his own cancer diagnosis and feeling guilty afterwards.[42]
Eszterhas wrote a book about his experiences withMel Gibson andanti-Semitism, titledHeaven and Mel, wherein he portrays Gibson as a man fueled only by hatred, prone to violent outbursts.[43] 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.[44]
Basic Instinct | |
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