Biography
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 fo...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Prüdes Hollywood - Laster, Lust und Leidenschaft im Film
2025
In recent years, Hollywood productions have turned away from sensuality. Is the sex scene on the verge of extinction or reinvention? Alongside film pr...

The Impact
2022
Writer
The Impact is a fascinating tapestry of interwoven stories from diverse voices around the world; at times moving and profound, at others hilarious and...

Basic Instinct: Sex, Death & Stone
2020
as Self
A documentary about the Paul Verhoeven's cult classic Basic Instinct.

You Don't Nomi
2019
as Himself (archive footage)
Released in 1995, Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. You Don't Nomi traces the film's redemptiv...

The First Film
2015
as Himself
Leeds born filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson's thirty three year quest to prove that the worlds film industry started in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in...

Children of Glory
2006
Screenplay
Children of Glory will commemorate Hungary's heroic Revolution of 1956, and takes place in Budapest and at the Melbourne Olympic Games in October and ...

Basic Instinct 2
2006
Characters
Novelist Catherine Tramell is once again in trouble with the law, and Scotland Yard appoints psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass to evaluate her. Though, l...
The Tobacco Conspiracy
2006
as Himself
The tobacco industry's conspiratorial efforts to market their products in the face of public health facts and public opposition.

Jackie Chan: My Story
1998
as Self - Showgirls' Writer
Jackie Chan is one of the world's biggest action stars, famed for his wacky sense of humor, remarkable martial arts techniques, and willingness to per...

Jackie Chan: My Story
1998
Thanks
Jackie Chan is one of the world's biggest action stars, famed for his wacky sense of humor, remarkable martial arts techniques, and willingness to per...

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn
1998
as Joe Eszterhas
Filmmaker Alan Smithee finds himself the unwilling puppet of a potentially bad big budget action film, for which he proceeds to steal the reels, and l...

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn
1998
Writer
Filmmaker Alan Smithee finds himself the unwilling puppet of a potentially bad big budget action film, for which he proceeds to steal the reels, and l...

Telling Lies in America
1997
Screenplay
A 17-year-old boy becomes friends with Billy Magic, the radio DJ he idolizes, and eventually slips into the payola and corruption of the entertainment...

Jade
1995
Writer
When a prominent art dealer is found murdered, the man's death leads to an intriguing investigation steeped in sex, corruption and crime. District Att...

Showgirls
1995
Writer
Fresh to Las Vegas with no connections, Nomi Malone takes a job as an exotic dancer. Her talents are quickly noticed by Cristal, a headlining dancer w...

Sliver
1993
Screenplay, Executive Producer
A woman moves into an apartment in Manhattan and learns that the previous tenant's life ended mysteriously after they fell from the balcony.

Nowhere to Run
1993
Screenplay, Story
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.

Basic Instinct
1992
Screenplay
Catherine, a novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite, becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered -- a crime she had described...

Music Box
1989
Screenplay, Executive Producer
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.

Checking Out
1988
Writer
When his best friend dies of a heart attack, Ray Macklin becomes a man obsessed with his own mortality. Convinced that all his aches and pains are an ...

Betrayed
1988
Writer, Executive Producer
An FBI agent posing as a combine driver becomes romantically involved with a Midwest farmer who lives a double life as a white supremacist.

Hearts of Fire
1987
Writer
A reclusive musician, once a huge rock star, takes a young female protegee. While on a tour she meets a younger, more popular rocker and switches her ...

Big Shots
1987
Writer
Following the death of his father, a suburbanite runs away from home and winds up on Chicago's South Side. After being mugged, the boy befriends a you...

Jagged Edge
1985
Screenplay
After a wealthy heiress is murdered in her beach house, her devastated husband becomes the prime suspect. He hires a lawyer who hasn’t taken a crimina...

Flashdance
1983
Screenplay
Alex Owens, a young woman juggling between two odd jobs, aspires to become a successful ballet dancer. Nick, who is her boss and lover, supports and e...

F.I.S.T.
1978
Writer, Screenplay
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher ...

Goddess: The Fall and Rise of Showgirls
N/A
as Self
A look at the production and enduring popularity of a modern trash classic from those bad boys behind 1992's Basic Instinct, the infamous screenwriter...