Joe Eszterhas Quote

They were hometown hippies who primped in the cracked mirror of their egos and saw themselves as more intelligent, more humane, more real than their plastic deodorized elders. They were the victims of a freeze-dried generational racism which would not forgive their long loathsome hair and their scuzzy tramp-clothes. So now, cast in a psychodrama partly of their own design, they grew their hair even longer and let their jeans get grubbier. They asked for it: the audience reaction was confirmation of all their halfbaked theories. They screamed Fuck You! with every gesture and found applause in the cops' teeth-gnashings and housewives' cringings.

Joe Eszterhas

They were hometown hippies who primped in the cracked mirror of their egos and saw themselves as more intelligent, more humane, more real than their plastic deodorized elders. They were the victims of a freeze-dried generational racism which would not forgive their long loathsome hair and their scuzzy tramp-clothes. So now, cast in a psychodrama partly of their own design, they grew their hair even longer and let their jeans get grubbier. They asked for it: the audience reaction was confirmation of all their halfbaked theories. They screamed Fuck You! with every gesture and found applause in the cops' teeth-gnashings and housewives' cringings.

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About Joe Eszterhas

József Antal Eszterhás (Hungarian: [ˈjoːʒɛf ɒntɒl ˈɛstɛrhaːʃ]; born November 23, 1944), credited as Joe Eszterhas, is a Hungarian-American writer. Born in Hungary, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. After an early career as a journalist and editor, he entered the film industry. His first screenwriting credit was for the film F.I.S.T. (1978). He co-wrote the script for Flashdance, which became one of the highest grossing films of 1983, and set off a lucrative and prolific run for his career. By the early 1990s, he was known as the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, and noted for his work in the erotic thriller genre. He was paid a then-record $3 million for his script Love Hurts, which was produced as Basic Instinct (1992), and following its success, news outlets reported he earned seven-figure salaries solely on the basis of two-to-four page outlines.
However, Eszterhas' screenwriting career experienced a decline over the rest of the decade, with films such as Showgirls (1995), Jade (1995), and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) receiving negative reviews and performing poorly at the box office. He mostly withdrew from Hollywood afterward, though he has since authored several books. His publications include American Rhapsody (2000), and two volumes of memoirs: Hollywood Animal (2004), an autobiography, and Crossbearer (2008), which detailed his adulthood return to the Catholic faith he was raised in.