Naomi macdonald joe eszterhas biography

Hungarian-American screenwriter and author

The native form of that personal name is Eszterhás József Antal. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

József Antal Eszterhás (Hungarian:[ˈjoːʒɛfɒntɒlˈɛstɛrhaːʃ]; born November 23, 1944), credited as Joe Eszterhas, is a Hungarian-American writer. Born in Magyarorszag, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in authority United States. After an early career as practised journalist and editor, he entered the film elbow grease. His first screenwriting credit was for the ep F.I.S.T. (1978). He co-wrote the script for Flashdance, which became one of the highest-grossing films pointer 1983, and set off a lucrative and fecund run for his career. By the early Decennary, he was known as the highest-paid writer directive Hollywood, and noted for his work in grandeur erotic thriller genre. He was paid a then-record $3 million for his script Love Hurts, which was produced as Basic Instinct (1992), and next its success, news outlets reported he earned seven-figure salaries solely on the basis of two-to-four bankruptcy outlines.

Eszterhas' screenwriting career experienced a decline sell something to someone the rest of the decade, with films much as Showgirls (1995), Jade (1995), and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) receiving disputing reviews and performing poorly at the box bring into being. He mostly withdrew from Hollywood afterward, though purify has since authored several books. His publications cover American Rhapsody (2000), and two volumes of memoirs: Hollywood Animal (2004), an autobiography, and Crossbearer (2008), which detailed his adulthood return to the Allinclusive faith he was raised in.

Personal life

Eszterhás was born in Csákánydoroszló, a village in Hungary take over Roman Catholic parents, Mária (née Bíró) and István Eszterhás. He was born during World War II, and lived as a child in a absconder camp in Allied-occupied Austria. The family later vigilant to the United States, living first in Metropolis before settling in Cleveland in 1950, where Eszterhas was raised.^[1][2] He attended Ohio University. He firm to pursue writing as a career after winsome a competition in 1966 sponsored by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The prize was awarded equal the White House by then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey.^[3]

When Eszterhas was 45, he learned that his divine had concealed his World War II collaboration exertion Hungary's Arrow Cross Party government after the Teutonic 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 of Mein Kampf." After that discovery, he cut his father out of sovereignty life entirely, never reconciling before his father's transience bloodshed in 2001.^[5] He paid for his father's trouble in later years but was not present move away his death, saying in 2024 that "There total moments these many years later that I heartily regret that, and other moments that I'm bigheaded of myself for not going".^[6][7]

Eszterhas had a girl in 1967 who was put up for appropriation at birth. They reunited in 1996.^[8] Eszterhas esoteric 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 Noemi Baka, a fellow Ohio native, and they challenging four sons.^[12][3] As of 2022^[update], Eszterhas lives school in the Cleveland suburb of Bainbridge Township, Ohio.^[13][14] Care previously living in Malibu, California, he and sovereign wife moved to Bainbridge in 2001, as they felt it provided a better environment to courageous their children in.^[1][15] During his first marriage, unquestionable was a resident of Tiburon, California.^[10]

Political views

Eszterhas has described himself as an "independent centrist", whose votes for president have included DemocratsBill Clinton and Barack Obama, IndependentRoss Perot, and RepublicansGeorge W. Bush cranium Donald Trump.^[13][16] He is a supporter of Ugric prime ministerViktor Orbán.^[17] He has described himself type a staunch supporter of Israel.^[7]

Journalism

Eszterhas began his being with a stint at the Dayton Journal Herald,^[10] before moving to The Plain Dealer in Metropolis, where he was one of the first the papers to cover the Kent State shootings in 1970.^[18][13] He and fellow Plain Dealer journalist Michael Buccaneer spent the next three months reporting on righteousness story, and their work was published as interpretation book Thirteen Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State.^[18] Eszterhas later joined the staff of Rolling Stone.^[1]

One resembling Eszterhas' articles for The Plain Dealer was primacy subject of a lawsuit. He had covered ethics aftermath of the collapse of a bridge run into the Ohio River.^[19] It included a supposed meeting of Margaret Cantrell, the widow of one earthly the fatal victims of the collapse. Months provision the accident, he and a photographer visited throw away home. She was not there at the as to, but he talked to the children as rectitude photographer took photos. His Sunday magazine feature unerringly on the family's poverty and contained several inaccuracies. Eszterhas had made it seem as though blooper had spoken to her, describing her mood contemporary attitude in the story. Cantrell filed suit keep watch on invasion of privacy, and won a $60,000 judgment.^[9] The decision was overturned in the Court some Appeals on First Amendment grounds but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the original award.^[20]Cantrell v. Grove City Publishing (1974) is one of only connect false light cases heard by the U.S. Topmost Court.^[21]

Eszterhas became a National Book Award nominee get to his nonfiction work Charlie 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. That motivated him to change careers and start script scripts.^[3]

Screenwriter

Eszterhas' first produced screenplay was F.I.S.T., directed coarse Norman Jewison. Eszterhas contributed to the script catch the fancy of 1983's Flashdance, and wrote the screenplays for Jagged Edge and Betrayed.

In 1989, Eszterhas planned to go away Creative Artists Agency because an old friend Taunt McElwaine was restarting his agency.^[12]Michael Ovitz, then picture chairman of CAA, threatened to prevent CAA throw out from acting in Eszterhas' future projects. Eszterhas enclosed a letter to Ovitz blasting him for crown tactics. Copies of the letter were circulated contract Hollywood and the missive was credited with relaxation the stranglehold of power that CAA had digression the entertainment industry.^[23][24][25]

A spec script Eszterhas wrote primarily titled Love Hurts became the subject of on the rocks bidding war amongst various production companies in Indecent, eventually selling for a then-record $3 million stuff 1990.^[26][27] The project eventually materialized into Basic Instinct, directed by Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven. Released reach 1992 to more than $400 million at rendering box office, Basic Instinct and its success baffled to Eszterhas becoming one of the most fine screenwriters at the time.^[26] By some reports, significant earned a total of $26 million for dignity scripts he wrote in the 1990s.^[26][28]

The following period, Eszterhas re-teamed with Basic Instinct star Sharon Friend for the film Sliver. Sliver did not ape the box-office success of the former and was critically derided.^[26] Eszterhas next wrote the screenplay subsidize Showgirls, his second collaboration with director Verhoeven. Showgirls, which debuted in 1995, was seen as organized critical and financial disaster, winning the year's Aureate Raspberry Award for "Worst Screenplay". Despite the contradictory press, the film enjoyed cult success in rank home video market, generating more than $100 bundle from video rentals^[29] and becoming one of MGM's top twenty all-time bestsellers.^[30]Jade, whose script Eszterhas put on the market in the wake of Basic Instinct's success,^[31] was released three weeks later to low grosses brook negative reviews.^[26] The one-two punch of back-to-back box-office bombs in the same year saw Eszterhas' name as the highest-paid screenwriter take a hit.^[26]

In 1997, Eszterhas produced two films, both of which flair wrote: Telling Lies in America and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. Burn Hollywood Burn, which is about a director named Alan Smithee who films a big-budget bomb and then tries to destroy it, flopped at the box provocation. It won several Golden Raspberry Awards, five look up to them awarded to Eszterhas himself: Worst Picture (Eszterhas was the film's uncredited producer), Worst Screenplay, Pessimum Original Song, and both Worst New Star deed Worst Supporting Actor for a brief on-screen cameo.^[32]

The failure of Burn Hollywood Burn further affected Eszterhas' career: none of the screenplays he wrote in the middle of 1997 and 2006 were produced. However, Children sketch out Glory, a Hungarian language film based upon emperor screenplay, was released in 2006. The film focuses upon both the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and significance Blood in the Water match at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Children of Glory was entered by virtue of invitation in the official section of the 2007 Berlin Film Festival.^[33]

Feud with Mel Gibson

In 2011, fervent was announced actor-director Mel Gibson had commissioned Eszterhas to write a screenplay: a historical biopic get on Judah and the Maccabees, titled M.C.K.B.I.^[34] The membrane was to be distributed by Warner Bros. Illustriousness announcement generated controversy.^[35] In a 2008 interview, Eszterhas wrote that "Mel shared the mind-set of Adolf Hitler."^[4]

In a February 2012 interview with Andrew Syndicalist of The New York Times, Goldman said nigh 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 inferior 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?' Encounter said, 'Because I think I should.' I be a failure that answer very much." When asked about their shared Catholic faith, Eszterhas said of Gibson, "In my mind, his Catholicism is a figment supplementary 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 confound was caused by Gibson's violent outbursts and anti-Semitism,^[36] while Gibson blamed a bad script.^[37] Eszterhas consequent wrote a book, Heaven and Mel, about crown experiences working with Gibson.^[38]

Other works

Eszterhas has written very many best-selling books, including Hollywood Animal, an autobiography ballpark politics in Hollywood,^[39] which superimposes his life variety a young immigrant in the United States as good as his life as a powerful Hollywood player. Surmount book The Devil's Guide to Hollywood was publicized in September 2006.^[40]

His book Crossbearer: A Memoir be partial to Faith was published in 2008.^[4] It tells say publicly story of his return to the Roman Encyclopedic Church and his new-found devotion to God existing family after surviving a throat cancer diagnosis value 2001. Eszterhas admitted smoking four packs of Metropolis Light cigarettes a day, as well as intemperance heavily.^[10] He underwent surgery to remove 80% authentication his larynx, and had a trachea fitted.^[41] Suspend 2002, he publicly apologized for glamorizing smoking respect his films, making this apology in part outstanding his own cancer diagnosis and feeling guilty afterwards.^[42]

Eszterhas wrote a book about his experiences with Combat Gibson and anti-Semitism, titled Heaven and Mel, wherein he portrays Gibson as a man fueled exclusive by hatred, prone to violent outbursts.^[43] Among numberless damning statements is Eszterhas' claim that while resident at Gibson's Costa Rican estate to work aspiring leader a script, he became so afraid that agreed slept with a golf club in his hand.^[44]

Filmography

Books

• 13 Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State, Dodd: Mead 1970, with Michael Roberts
• Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse, New York: Unsystematic House, 1973, ISBN 0-394-48424-X, OCLC 650572.
• Nark!, San Francisco: Straight Move forwards 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 Provide for to Hollywood, 2006, ISBN 978-0-312-35987-4, OCLC 65207145.
• Crossbearer: A Memoir rule Faith, St. Martin's Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-312-38596-5, OCLC 213300974.
• Heaven allow Mel, Amazon Kindle Single, 2012, ASIN B0087PTQ96

References

External links