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Hollywood Animal: A Memoir
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 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...more
Hardcover, 752 pages
Published
January 27th 2004
by Knopf
(first published October 15th 2003)
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It's a shame Joe Eszterhas and Russell Crowe never crossed streams. The resulting throw-down of wrong-headed self-righteousness and noble savagery would have been manful and awesome and totally not gay to behold. That imaginary near-miss notwithstanding, there's enough Social Darwinist star-fucking and petty industry score-settling between the covers of Eszterhas' doorstop to offer some schadenfreudelicious pickings if you're willing to wade through the sneakily index-less, haphazardly time-shif...more
This book started out really good and slowly descended into preachy madness. I wanted to read this considering that Joe Eszterhas was once the most highly paid screenwriter who turned out the most controversial and crappy films, including Showgirls. I have to give him credit, he pulls no punches in revealing the true natures of people from some of the executives and directors he dealt with (including making Michael Ovitz come off like a murderer). I also enjoyed the story of his childhood growin...more
I loved this book so much, I am looking forward to reading through this mammoth thing again soon. Joe Eszterhas really put together a special book looking at his life from being a Hungarian immigrant living in the poorest section of Cleveland to a millionaire screenwriter in Los Angeles to a wise cancer survivor back in Cleveland. It's funny, frequently shocking, and so honestly human. I gained so much respect from Eszterhas after reading this book, there's so much passion behind it. Also, lots...more
This is a long, too long, book in my opinion. Got tired of reading about Hollywood, particularly the Hollywood of the author.
The book could have been half the size and sharpened up and would be much more readable, at least to me.
I finished the book, but hd to work at it to get through. Guess the topic was not as interesting to me as I thought it would be.
Those who want to hear all the gossip about Hollywood, as seen through the eyes of one person and that one person's opinnion, will enjoy the bo...more
The book could have been half the size and sharpened up and would be much more readable, at least to me.
I finished the book, but hd to work at it to get through. Guess the topic was not as interesting to me as I thought it would be.
Those who want to hear all the gossip about Hollywood, as seen through the eyes of one person and that one person's opinnion, will enjoy the bo...more
Hmmm. I'd say five brilliant stars for all the parts that displayed truth and raw emotional honesty -- meaning all the chapters that showed him in Cleveland as a boy and teenager. The authenticity of his dear mother getting dressed up in cocktail attire just to eat a simple meal at a diner, or his father saving all his hard-earned cash to buy the young Joe a bad-ass car were carefully and lovingly drawn (Eszterhas is a shockingly effective writer when he has a mind to be).
But a big negative 850...more
But a big negative 850...more
Fascinating memoir from a fascinating human being. Joe Eszterhas is the extreme example of the badass screenwriter who was more willing to tell you to f*ck off/break your neck if he felt you were trying to... well, f*ck with his words. That's all you have when you're a writer and you have to stand up to what you believe in. Even if the threats come raining down. You get to get inside his head as he tells you his truth of working on his famous movies like Basic Instant or the infamous failures li...more
Reading a book about Joe Eszterhas would never have occured to me until I heard him interviewed on the radio about how his bout with throat cancer at age 56 resulted in a born again experience.
First Anne Rice find religion, now Joe Eszterhas. Whose next? Hugh Hefner?
Eszterhas is a good writer, as one would suspect. His memoir of life in Hollywood makes one wonder why any normal person would want to work in that industry.
Great to see there can be modern day Pauls.
First Anne Rice find religion, now Joe Eszterhas. Whose next? Hugh Hefner?
Eszterhas is a good writer, as one would suspect. His memoir of life in Hollywood makes one wonder why any normal person would want to work in that industry.
Great to see there can be modern day Pauls.
I didn’t know what to expect going into this book but nothing could have prepared me for what I got. The book covers what I did expect which was Hollywood gossip but also weaves in the sum his life. From Hungary to the United States, from his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio to adulthood in Hollywood. Every anecdote be the Hollywood ones or the ones about his family paint a picture of a truly unique individual. I really liked this book.
Even though he tends to spin every situation as if he were the only rational one in the room, Eszterhas is so candid I kept reading despite my reservations.
The book is pretty long for what it is, with later chapters telling the story of some script/film in more detail than they warrant. The opening chapter, however, reads like an overview of his entire life/book and is really solid. I particularly enjoyed how he contextualized his experience with other screenwriters, particularly novelist-turned...more
The book is pretty long for what it is, with later chapters telling the story of some script/film in more detail than they warrant. The opening chapter, however, reads like an overview of his entire life/book and is really solid. I particularly enjoyed how he contextualized his experience with other screenwriters, particularly novelist-turned...more
Call it bullshit if you want, it doesn't matter, this is still the best, and funniest book about behind-the-scenes Hollywood I've read so far. If you are interested at all in how movies are made or even just good Hollywood gossip, this is the book to read. Ezterhas burned all his bridges when he moved back to his hometown of Cleveland and wrote this one. What else could he do after Showgirls?
And this goes to prove that a successful screenwriter is not necessarily a good writer. If it were, Eszterhas would have come out looking better (not that he didn't try to heap praise upon himself). In the end it's a mixture of wild, preachy, resentful, indulgent, inspired douchebag stories.
I wouldn't like to meet the man, and if I ever did, I'd ask him why don't you go fuck yourself?
I wouldn't like to meet the man, and if I ever did, I'd ask him why don't you go fuck yourself?
Disclaimer: I haven't actually read this in sequence. It usually sits in our bathroom, and I pick it up from time to time. There's an image for you.
My husband always gripes about how I leave it author portrait-side up. It unnerves him. I just like the idea of this grizzly man hack screenwriter looking up at you while you perform your daily routine.
Anyway, what I've read so far has been pretty entertaining. I love how Eszterhas clearly sees himself as incredibly erudite and approached "Showgirls...more
My husband always gripes about how I leave it author portrait-side up. It unnerves him. I just like the idea of this grizzly man hack screenwriter looking up at you while you perform your daily routine.
Anyway, what I've read so far has been pretty entertaining. I love how Eszterhas clearly sees himself as incredibly erudite and approached "Showgirls...more
He's a piece of work, but not exactly the piece of work I assumed him to be when I picked up the book. The narrative loses steam when a bout with throat cancer rather literally puts the fear of God into the guy, but it's still a blunt, engaging, touching, and provocative - if perhaps not perfectly honest - book. But what would I expect from a guy who could write Showgirls and Basic Instinct as well as The Music Box and Telling Lies in America? He's too complex a beast with too wild a life for ev...more
I'm actually upset I haven't finished this book I just ran out of time and the library wants it back. But I did get about half-way through it and loved the way his writing seemed to jump off the page. Eszterhas is very blunt, and sometimes brutal in what he writes. He didn't try to mince words or hide the truth. This was one memoir that didn't read like a memoir. There was no self-pity involved or apologies for anything. He didn't just tell his life story he intertwined his screenwriting life wi...more
Difficult to read because of the high amount of made up clap trap, but worth wading through to get some actual stories of both Eszterhas' Cleveland history as well as his journey through the film industry's jungle. Makes me glad I never made in in the business.
Eh--I tried to read it. Really I did. Honest. But despite the fact that the cover proclaims it to be "absolutely first rate, poignantly heartfelt" I couldn't do it. The friend who gave it to me didn't want it back and said I could BookCross it. So I am.
Here is the passage that led me to read this book:
My father gave me a lesson about America.
"Everybody says 'Hov arr yu?'" he said. "But they don't mean it. If you tell them how you are, if you say-'So-so, I have a headache, I think I'm getting a cold, I'm worried about money, my wife and I had an argument,' they look at you like you're crazy.
"What they want to hear is fein. Hov arr yu? Fein."
"If you are dying, if you have nothing to eat, if your best friend has betrayed you, if you are about to...more
My father gave me a lesson about America.
"Everybody says 'Hov arr yu?'" he said. "But they don't mean it. If you tell them how you are, if you say-'So-so, I have a headache, I think I'm getting a cold, I'm worried about money, my wife and I had an argument,' they look at you like you're crazy.
"What they want to hear is fein. Hov arr yu? Fein."
"If you are dying, if you have nothing to eat, if your best friend has betrayed you, if you are about to...more
Definitely not worth going through the 2.6 pounds of the book, filled with the very ego centered considerations of Eszterhas. Seems like a lot of hard work from the reader just to get a few crispy bits of Hollywood decadence... A few good insights on what's happening behind the closed doors of Tinseltown though, but overall, quite a boring read.
Guh. Mixed feelings about this. The book is self-serving and self-aggrandizing even for a Hollywood memoir, that distinguished body of literature that sadly dominates a healthy portion of real estate on my bookshelf. The author's ego is fucking gigantic. Oh, and he goes on about 200 pages too long. And yet-the dirt is dished, so I am satisfied. Best anecdote: Marlon Brando, when people came to visit him in Fiji, liked to have his visitors poop in a jar. He had a whole wall full of the jars in hi...more
Joe Eszterhas is a opinionated, outspoken, and brilliant writer, so this memoir about his beginnings in Hollywood is very entertaining. I actually think that I prefer this book to his Devil's Guide to Hollywood. I began to lose interest towards the end, though. He gets preachy.
Interesting for Hollywood gossip but more so for the audacity and honesty of Eszterhas as a lying, selfish, cheating husband.
This is a terrible, terrible book I could not stop reading. Look for it in a future Silly Show-Biz Book Club entry.
Struggling with this. Someone once said about Eszterhas that it was obvious that English wasn't his first language. They were right. Dreadful, overblown account from the most overpaid and overwrought screenwriter in history. I felt dirty reading it (and not in a good way).
Nov 13, 2012
Susan
added it
Interesting stories. Just more proof that Hollywood is an ugly town. Well written though.
The most amazing fact: Joe Eszterhas hit Anastas Mikoyan with a rotten tomato.
Jan 02, 2009
Susan
marked it as to-read
From list to read in People magazine.
He is indeed a Great story teller
Entertaining, although extremely long. I started skipping the chapters about his childhood as it goes 1 chapter: childhood, 1 chapter: career, alternating. He comes across as a bit of an asshole to be frank but it is very readable.
Two stars for the autobiographical stuff about his childhood. Zero stars for the insufferably pompous, self-important Hollywood blather and the especially insensitive, selfish, sociopathic, and crassly hurtful malice he inflicted on his first wife. All that testosterone and he wasn't even man enough to be honest with her about his affair with their FRIEND.
Jerk. Oh, and he also fucked Sharon Stone. Big deal. Who didn't?
Jerk. Oh, and he also fucked Sharon Stone. Big deal. Who didn't?
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Wow, what a book! This guy, to say the least, has led a varied and storied life: his escape from Europe as a youth, his unique rise as a Hollywood screenwriter powerhouse and the "after-math" of that existence. His writing is detailed and fearless. Plenty of great gossip, dish and crazy stories about any and everyone in Hollywood. Highly recommend.
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Joe Eszterhas is a Hungarian-American screenwriter, known for films such as Jagged Edge, Music Box, Basic Instinct and Showgirls. Before becoming a screenwriter he was a journalist and has also written non-fiction books and memoirs.
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