Hollywood Animal (Hardcover)

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Review
The highest-rolling screenwriter in Hollywood history tells all. Eszterhas gives the big picture up front: He's repeatedly set records for the biggest payments for the screenplays for phenoms (Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct) and bombs (Showgirls, Jade) that have gone on to gross over a billion dollars; he's "the only screenwriter . . . who had groupies"; and a lot of qualified judges think he's the devil. "I don't mean to sound insufferable, but . . ." he compares himself to Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Faulkner ("Compare myself to other screenwriters? Say what?"). Behind the self-aggrandizing headlines is the story of a kid rescued from Hungary's postwar refugee camps to land in Cleveland, where he battled the brothers at his Catholic school and lied to his parents about bogus honors. But his life becomes far more arresting the moment he arrives in Hollywood and starts dishing dirt on everybody from Michael Ovitz to himself. Eszterhas is brutally candid about his early years as a screenwriter, when his price soared even though his scripts were either unproduced or turned into duds like F.I.S.T. He's less candid about his shortcomings as writer (every failure is blamed on megalomaniac directors, poor casting, blinkered reviewers, or studio execs too stupid to see that every word in an Eszterhas script was golden), as husband (he embarrassingly reproduces the journals of his second wife, Naomi Baka, to confirm his version of the breakup of his first marriage, which just happened to fall apart as Naomi's bridegroom was running off with Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone), and as colleague (his often hilarious accounts of industry infighting infallibly vindicate his judgment at the expense of everybody else's). Precious little about filmmaking in these pages, but a great deal about deal-making and even more about getting back at your family, your childhood tormentors, and the Nazi Party. Eszterhas's memoir may be the longest gotcha ever penned. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
He spent his earliest years in post-World War II refugee camps. He came to America and grew up in Cleveland - stealing cars, rolling drinks, battling priests, nearly going to jail. He became the screenwriter of the world-wide hits "Basic Instinct", "Jagged Edge" and "Flashdance". He also wrote the legendary disasters "Showgirls" and "Jade". The rebellion never ended, even as his films went on to gross more than a billion dollars at the box office and he became the most famous - or infamous - screenwriter in Hollywood. Jo Eszterhas is a complex and paradoxical figure: part outlaw and outside combined with equal parts romantic and moralist. More than one person has called him 'the devil'. He has been referred to as 'the most reviled name in America' but "Time" asked, "If Shakespeare were alive today, would his name be Joe Eszterhas?' and he was the first screenwriter picked as one of the industry's 100 Most Powerful People. But there are many more laters to this extraordinary work. It is the story of a Hungarian street kid who survives a life filled with obstacles and pain...a chronicle of a love affair that is sensual, glorious, and unending...an excruciatingly detailed look at a man facing down the greatest enemy he's ever fought: the cancer inside him. ..and perhaps most importantly, "Hollywood Animal" is the heartbreraking story of a father and son that redefines the concepts of love and betrayal.

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2 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars a postmodern masterpiece!, 9 Aug 2005 By  Geoff Bunn (Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom) - See all my reviews This review is from: Hollywood Animal (Paperback) I couldn't put this down and had to finish it once I'd started, despite its 700+ page length. It's a brilliant insider account of the madness, back-stabbing and self-destruction that goes on in Hollywood. I've only seen a few of Eszterhas' films (Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, Hearts of Fire), but his account of sex, drugs, drinking, marriage breakdown and big money deals he was involved with in La La Land in the 1990s is utterly compelling. Eszterhas started out as a journalist but became a record-breaking screenplay writer in the 1980s. One treatment he wrote (in 4 hours) was sold for $4 million. A major Hollywood star sleeps with him to thank him for making her career. Bob Dylan's dogs dump on his doorstep. He forgets how to go shopping. Every paragraph has the structure of a mini screenplay, ending on some sort of shocking revelation or denouement. Eszterhas gives you all the vicarious thrills you'd want. But what makes the book so thrilling is his skillful use of a variety of different voices. He writes movingly about his childhood and his relationship with his parents (discovering a dark secret at the heart of his father's biography). He presents occasional vignettes about subsidiary Hollywood players (such as the surgeon who had gold disks - not medical certificates - on his wall). And the book really moves up a gear when he quotes verbatim from the diary of the woman who eventually becomes his second wife. He spares us none of the grissly details about the breakdown of his marriage, his alcoholism (swigs of schnapps and bottles of beer all day plus 4 bottles of wine a night), and his illness. A thrilling, tragic, but ultimately uplifting autobiography of a Hollywood icon. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars What a life this guy has led!, 12 Feb 2004 By A Customer I think the "Hollywood Animal" has lived a much more interesting life than his screenplays and it would probably make a really good movie. He's done it all--the drugs, the woman, the business. The book is a bit gruff, but then so is Mr.E. A definte must read for anyone who loves books about Hollywood, but if you'd like one that's no so gruff, try a "Take Your Shirt Off" or a "You'll Never Eat Lunch..." instead. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 2 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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