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He spent his earliest years in post WWII refugee camps. He came to America and grew up in Cleveland -- stealing cars, rolling drunks, battling priests, nearly going to jail. He became the screenwriter of the worldwide hitsBasic Instinct,Jagged Edge, andFlashdance.He also wrote the legendary disastersShowgirlsandJade.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. Joe Eszterhas is a complex and paradoxical figure: part outlaw and outsider 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 man in America.” ButTimeasked, “If Shakespeare were alive today, would his name be Joe Eszterhas?” and he was the first screenwriter picked as one of the movie industry’s 100 Most Powerful People. Although he is often accused of sexism and misogyny, his wife is his best friend and equal partner. Considered an apostle of sex and violence, he is a churchgoer who believes in the power of prayer. For many years the ultimate symbol of Hollywood excess, he has moved his family to Ohio and immersed himself in the midwestern lifestyle he so values. Controversial, fearless, extremely talented, and totally unpredictable, the author of the best-sellingAmerican Rhapsodyand National Book Award nomineeCharlie Simpson’s Apocalypsehas surprised us yet again: he has written a memoir like no other. On one level,Hollywood Animalis a shocking and often devastating look inside the movie business. It intimately explores the concept of fame and gives us a never-before-seen look at the famous. Eszterhas reveals the fights, the deals, the extortions, the backstabbing, and the sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll world that is Hollywood. But there are many more levels to this extraordinary work. It is the story of a 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 important,Hollywood Animalis the heartbreaking story of a father and son that defines the concepts of love and betrayal. This is a book that will shock you and make you laugh, anger you and move you to tears. It is pure Joe Eszterhas -- a raw, spine-chilling celebration of the human spirit.… (more)
User reviews
Whilst parts of it are undoubtably interesting, huge slabs of it aren't. The inclusion of apparently every letter he ever wrote and the pointless
In the end the author comes across as a self-indulgent, ego driven loud mouth who got paid a hell of a lot of money for writing the scripts of some completely forgettable trashy movies.
One thing you'll work out pretty quickly is that Mr Eszterhas is not what you'd call a humble man. But humble people seldom write interesting autobiographies.
This is a venomous, slanderous, back-biting book and all the better for it.
Interesting Fact:
It was definitely not what I had expected a typical Hollywood autobiography to be
Part of the enjoyable flavour of this book is how Eszterhas kicks butt when he goes to Hollywood. Apparently from what he says, the only way to survive is to be a predatory, self-serving megalomaniac. By contrast, if I demonstrated these qualities working in a government office or as a school administrator, I would stand out like a sore thumb, and probably get fired, but in Hollywood, they are normal, de rigeur even. Bigger-than--life as he appears in his own description of himself, I wondered if Joe actually exceeds the Hollywood norms of craziness. Or maybe not, and he is just a fish in water and this is his natural environment. But no, because then he feels even he has had too much and moves back out East.