Joe Eszterhas

Early life

Eszterhas was born in Csákánydoroszló, a small village in Hungary, the son of Mária (née Bíró) and István. Eszterhas was raised as a young child in a refugee camp in Austria. The family eventually moved to New York City, and then to poor immigrant neighborhoods in Cleveland, where Eszterhas spent most of his childhood. Eszterhas' father was a Roman Catholic newspaper editor and author. Eszterhas learned at age 45 that his father had concealed his collaboration in the Hungarian Nazi government and that he had "organized book burnings and had cranked out the vilest anti-Semitic propaganda imaginable."^p.201 After this discovery, he cut his father out of his life entirely, never reconciling before his father's death.

Journalist

Eszterhas was a newspaper reporter for The Plain Dealer, in Cleveland, where he gained access to color photos of Vietnam's My Lai Massacre, which depicted American soldiers murdering Vietnamese civilians. Although he was annoyed at his newspaper’s apparent lack of belief in the authenticity of the photos, the paper permitted Eszterhas to try to sell them for $125,000. Some media outlets, however, used the photos without permission, causing the photos to decline in value. He ended up receiving $20,000 from Life magazine.

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.

Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing (1974) 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 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 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.

Screenwriting and fame

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.

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 and became one of MGM's top twenty all-time bestsellers.

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, quickly became infamous and 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. The film was to be distributed by Warner Bros. The announcement generated controversy. In a 2008 interview, Eszterhas had written that "Mel shared the mind-set of Adolf Hitler." 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." By April 2012, Warner Bros. had cancelled the project; the film's last draft was dated February 20, 2012. Eszterhas claimed that the break was caused by Gibson's violent outbursts and anti-Semitism, while Gibson blamed a bad script. Eszterhas later wrote a book Heaven and Mel about his experiences working with Gibson.

Other works

Eszterhas has written several best-selling books, including Hollywood Animal, an autobiography about politics in Hollywood, 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.

His book Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith was published in 2008. 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. He underwent surgery to remove 80% of his larynx, and had a trachea fitted.

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. Among many damning statements is Eszterhas's 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.

Personal life

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."

Filmography

Unproduced screenplays

Books