Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas, Book Review
Flashdance, Basic Instinct, and Showgirls Writer Tells All
Hollywood Animal is more than just a sleazy Hollywood tell-all: it’s a touching autobiography that explores the life and career of a man who overcame the obstacles of his childhood to become one of the most successful screenwriters in the history of Hollywood.
Joe Eszterhas’ Hollywood
Joe Eszterhas has been called a sleaze merchant, a misogynist, and the devil, and yet, after reading through his remarkable autobiography, one can’t help but like the guy. Even as he rails against Hollywood, it’s clear that he loves it. One can almost see the Cheshire cat grin that must have been on his face as he wrote out all the sleazy, sordid details of his glory days in Hollywood. As a screenwriter he has had great success, and even greater failures. Showgirls and Jade were spectacular flops, while Basic Instinct and Flashdance have made it into the annals of pop culture history. Despite the many scripts of his that never got made, he was at one time the most powerful screenwriter in Hollywood, and while he faced a number of battles in the process, he had a damn good time at it.
Hollywood Animal Plot Structure
In Hollywood Animal, Eszterhas discusses his days in Hollywood and contrasts it with memoirs of his childhood in Hungarian refugee camps and in the working class neighborhood in which he grew up in Cleveland. The tales he tells are disturbing and touching. And whether or not you agree with his choices you've got to hand it to the guy: he doesn't hold back. Every story he tells is told with shameless detail. He's refreshingly candid and honest about his abominable behavior growing up, his role in the dissolution of his first marriage, his alcoholism, his repeated infidelities, and his faults and his failures as a father, a husband, and a famous Hollywood writer.
Joe Eszterhas the Writer
As a writer, he recognizes when his films didn’t work and why, but at the same time defends his role in the movie making process. He gives credit where credit is due, whether the recipients like it or not. He’s quick to point out when a director or producer “ruined” one of his films, and one tends to believe him because he’s just as quick to point out when someone else was responsible for the good (for example: when his son compliments him on the title Jagged Edge, Joe admits he didn’t come up with it. He also confirms that the most famous scene in one of his films, involving Sharon Stone and a short white dress, was not in his original script).
Joe Eszterhas’ Family Memoir
Besides the sleazy fun of the Hollywood gossip, Eszterhas' memoir is valuable for his stories about his family, from the devoutly religious mother who fell victim to mental illness, to his beloved father who nurtured and encouraged him throughout his childhood. Perhaps the book's most disturbing revelation has little to do with Hollywood, but is rather about a secret kept by Eszterhas' father, that eerily mirrors the plot of his film Music Box. What follows is both tender and heart breaking. Also surprising is the love story at the heart of the novel. While the breakdown of his first marriage is brutal and painful, the love story between Joe and the true love of his life, Naomi, is what great Hollywood stories are made of.
Hollywood Animal is a fascinating portrait of a major Hollywood player. Though one won't always agree with Eszterhas, it’s easy to admire his frankness and his guts. Love him or hate him, the guy tells a story like no one else.
- Eszterhas, Joe
- Hollywood Animal
- Published by Alfred A. Knopf
- 2004
- ISBN 0 09 180009 9
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