Joe Eszterhas was, at
one time, the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood.
He was also the first screenwriter to make the 100 Most Powerful
People in Hollywood list.
Eszterhas' first movie
was F.I.S.T. which starred Sly Stallone. Before
the movie was released Eszterhas and Sly had a
few very public squabbles, although they did ultimately patch
things up.
Here's how the New York Post
described it:
But when he was starting out,
he and Stallone clashed after Robert De Niro wavered
on playing the role of the Jimmy Hoffa-like character
in "F.I.S.T." Stallone played the part.
Stallone claimed he was
writing the script, not Eszterhas, and he fought him
and the director, Norman Jewison, over Eszterhas's
plot, which called for the union leader to be fatally shot.
"The public will not accept
me dying," he told Jewison.
"We're not making Rocky,"
the director replied. "Without your dying, there is no
ending to the movie."
"I'm a star," Stallone
countered.
"You're an actor,"
Jewison replied.
They compromised on shooting
the scene as written - but only once.
Stallone later told Eszterhas
how much he liked his work on "Jagged Edge,"
and said that since "I owe you one," he wanted to
hire him for $500,000 for a quick rewrite.
Stallone explained that
he was directing "Staying Alive," a sequel
to "Saturday Night Fever," and was halfway
through the shooting but was having disagreements with John
Travolta about the script.
Eszterhas agreed to meet
with the two men in Stallone's trailer. Travolta
wanted to stress the "vulnerability" of his character,
Tony Manero, but Stallone preferred to the put
the stress on his being "cool."
Eszterhas said he couldn't
help them.
"Sure you can," Stallone
said and offered to put him up in a hotel suite.
"Sly, you f - - -
- d me once on 'F.I.S.T.' " Eszterhas recalled
saying. "What do you want to f - - - me again for, now
that we're friends?"
Travolta began to laugh,
and so did Stallone, and Eszterhas left them to
solve the problem of Tony Manero's personality on their
own.
For the full article click HERE.
To order Hollywood Animal
by Joe Eszterhas [and help support the SZ] click
HERE.
- Craig Zablo
