104 Quotes by Joe Eszterhas

I think it’s terrible to show that to kids. It’s – I think you should – if you – if you do a piece where something violent happens and someone dies or is badly injured, you must show the pain.

Joe Lieberman was threatening censorship. What I’m arguing is that if the creative people in Hollywood themselves have a responsibility, have a moral responsibility in terms of smoking, not to show smoking in movies.

Let’s make Joe Lieberman accountable for his rhetoric. Not a penny more until he ‘clarifies’ his positions to the satisfaction of our creative freedom.

Don’t break your own heart.

You must show how gruesome that death is because if you don’t, then you turn into some kind of comic book and pain, then death, doesn’t have a consequence, and pain doesn’t have a consequence.

What Hollywood has done through the years is glamorized it even more, made it sexy, made it sensuous, and dwelled on those pleasure aspects, completing ignoring the fact that Hollywood as an industry, was pointing the gun at young people – pointing a gun at them when they were 12 to 14 years.

From a writing point of view, you now have teams of screenwriters working with a director. What’s lost in the process is the power of that one heart, brain, gut and soul that makes something an original piece of writing.

I always try to do true endings and that’s where I got into trouble always because Hollywood wants to do happy endings.

Fact is we went on to do other things. But we still wanted to do our success like rock’n’roll stars.