Biography

Has repeatedly made public statements blasting the "talent" of Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino has not only acknowledged said statements, but has gone on to praise Eszterhas and his infamous 1995 film Showgirls (1995).

His $3 million paycheck for Basic Instinct (1992) in 1990 was the highest amount of money ever paid for a screenplay until that time. However, Eszterhas was eclipsed in 1996 by Shane Black (who received $4 million for The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)), and again in 2002 by M. Night Shyamalan (who was paid $5 million for Signs (2002)).

In "Hollywood Animal: A Memoir," Eszterhas claims that Sherry Lansing, the boss of Paramount Pictures, asked him to issue a statement that he supported Paramount's hiring of William Friedkin as director for his Jade (1995) script. Friedkin was Lansing's husband, and she wanted protection from charges of nepotism. He issued the statement. In truth, Eszterhas did not want the former Oscar-winner, whom he considered a washed-up has-been, to direct the picture, but deferred to Lansing's wishes. Friedkin subsequently assured Eszterhas that he would "not change a comma" of Eszterhas' script, but when Eszterhas saw the completed film, there were so many changes to his original screenplay that he demanded that his name be removed from the film. Sherry Lansing placated Eszterhas by giving him a blind script commitment deal with Paramount worth $2-4m.

One reason that his screenplay for Basic Instinct (1992) finally sold for a record-setting $3 million was the bidding war between Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, which started because each of them wanted to make the movie from their respective studios. Kassar eventually won.

Initially handwrites all his scripts, then types them up on an Olivetti manual typewriter using his middle fingers. He wonders what he will do when he runs out of ribbons for the typewriter, as he doesn't know how to use a computer and hits the keys too hard to correctly work an electric typewriter.

I've always had a great deal of confidence in the stories I tell. And I always can think of a lot of new stories to tell. I'm not frightened. But a lot of people in this town are frightened.

I have only one loyalty - to my writing. I never wanted to be the head of a studio or a producer, I just wanted to make sure that what I write is what appears on screen, to not have some idiot change it on its way to the screen. There sure as hell are some idiots in Hollywood. I think we would see better movies - and God, we see a lot of shitty movies these days - if writers would stand up for what they believe in with studio heads and the Michael Eisners of the world.

Screenwriters are supposed to be neither seen nor heard. I certainly violated that rule. Among others.

When I first started doing screenplays I was so frightened. I didn't know what I was doing when I began F.I.S.T. (1978). Norman Jewison took me under his wing and taught me what he knew. But every morning for a year and a half, while I was writing that script, I'd get up and throw up. That's how the day began.

I like Basic Instinct (1992) very much. I liked Telling Lies in America (1997) a lot, and I liked Music Box (1989). I liked Jagged Edge (1985) very much and I liked Betrayed (1988). Flashdance (1983) I like, but it's truncated. Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who consider themselves the great auteurs of the 20th century, took that picture away from Adrian Lyne and chopped it up. I should add that I'm one of the few people on this side of the world, maybe, who really likes An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997). I wrote a script called "Pals" with my friend Richard Marquand, who later died. It was about an escaped convict and the relationship he had with children. The script was taken and destroyed many years later by Jean-Claude Van Damme as Nowhere to Run (1993). It lost its sensitivity, it lost everything. I don't like to remember that movie.

One Night Stand (1997) - $4,000,000

Jade (1995) - $2,500,000

Showgirls (1995) - $2,000,000

Sliver (1993) - $1,000,000

Original Sin (1992) - $1 .5m