LETTERS OF NOTE: Joe Eszterhas

Joe Eszterhas is no stranger to conflict with authority figures in Hollywood. In April this year the screenwriter of Flashdance, Basic Instinct and Showgirls had a very public fall-out with Mel Gibson, who had commissioned Eszterhas to write his upcoming epic The Maccabees. Eszterhas, a committed Catholic, accused Gibson's film of being anti-Semitic, one thing led to another, and you can read what happened here.

But this was not the first time that Eszterhas went to war with his pen. In the late-1980s, Eszterhas expressed his intention to leave his agent Michael Ovitz, and his agency the CAA, to join rival agency ICM. What followed was a series of bitter letters and horrible threats by Ovitz, who felt betrayed by Eszterhas and promised to ruin him as a screenwriter. Today's Letter of Note is Eszterhas' final response to Ovitz; it is as forthright as his letter to Gibson, and can be found here.


If you're a fan of Eszterhas, why not check out my review of Basic Instinct here? Alternatively, if you're waiting patiently for my remaining Star Wars reviews, I advise you to check out Jagged Edge. Not only it is a pretty good courtroom thriller, but it was directed by Richard Marquand - the same man who directed Return of the Jedi.

Daniel