Joe Eszterhas

Joe Eszterhas

1944-11-23 Csakanydoroszlo, Hungary 27 Credits

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

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Complete Filmography

Prüdes Hollywood - Laster, Lust und Leidenschaft im Film

Prüdes Hollywood - Laster, Lust und Leidenschaft im Film

2025

8.0
Acting

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

The Impact

2022

Writer

Writing

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

Basic Instinct: Sex, Death & Stone

2020

as Self

3.8
Acting

A documentary about the Paul Verhoeven's cult classic Basic Instinct.

You Don't Nomi

You Don't Nomi

2019

as Himself (archive footage)

5.7
Acting

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

The First Film

2015

as Himself

6.2
Acting

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

Children of Glory

2006

Screenplay

7.0
Writing

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

Basic Instinct 2

2006

Characters

5.0

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

6.0
Acting

The tobacco industry's conspiratorial efforts to market their products in the face of public health facts and public opposition.

Jackie Chan: My Story

Jackie Chan: My Story

1998

as Self - Showgirls' Writer

6.2
Acting

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

Jackie Chan: My Story

1998

Thanks

6.2

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

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn

1998

as Joe Eszterhas

3.9
Acting

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

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn

1998

Writer

3.9
Writing

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

Telling Lies in America

1997

Screenplay

5.8
Writing

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

Jade

1995

Writer

5.5
Writing

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

Showgirls

1995

Writer

5.6
Writing

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

Sliver

1993

Screenplay, Executive Producer

5.5
Writing Producing

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

Nowhere to Run

1993

Screenplay, Story

6.4
Writing

Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.

Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct

1992

Screenplay

6.9
Writing

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

Music Box

1989

Screenplay, Executive Producer

7.1
Writing Producing

A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.

Checking Out

Checking Out

1988

Writer

4.4
Writing

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

Betrayed

1988

Writer, Executive Producer

6.0
Writing Producing

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

Hearts of Fire

1987

Writer

3.8
Writing

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

Big Shots

1987

Writer

6.3
Writing

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

Jagged Edge

1985

Screenplay

6.3
Writing

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

Flashdance

1983

Screenplay

6.5
Writing

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.

F.I.S.T.

1978

Writer, Screenplay

6.5
Writing

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

Goddess: The Fall and Rise of Showgirls

N/A

as Self

Acting

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...