Joe Rogan Experience #2508 - Joe Eszterhas
Joe Rogan interviews legendary screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, discussing the origins of Basic Instinct, his wild journalism career covering riots and celebrity interviews, his late-in-life conversion to Christianity after surviving stage four throat cancer, and his deep friendship with Hunter S. Thompson. The conversation spans topics from the Shroud of Turin to ICE enforcement to Mark Twain's hidden raunchy side.
Summary
Joe Rogan sits down with Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter behind Basic Instinct and 17 other films, for a wide-ranging conversation about his extraordinary life. Eszterhas opens by revealing that Ukrainian President Zelensky and his wife have watched Basic Instinct at least 15 times, often on anniversaries. He explains that the script was written in 13 days in Hawaii, fueled by cocaine, sunlight, and Rolling Stones music, and drew on two real-life experiences: an affair at 18 with a sophisticated faculty wife, and a friendship with a trigger-happy Cleveland cop. The script, originally titled 'Love Hurts,' sold for a record $3 million at auction and remains culturally significant, recently being called a 'post-feminist classic' by critic Camille Paglia.
Eszterhas recounts his formative years as a police reporter in Dayton and Cleveland, describing harrowing scenes including arriving at a murder-suicide before police, witnessing a stabbing at age 12 from his apartment window, and being caught in crossfire during the Glenville urban uprising — where he knew both the Hungarian cop who was shot and the Black nationalist leader who ordered the shooting, Fred Ahmed Evans. He also discusses covering Kent State, urban uprisings in Detroit, Newark, and Cleveland, and his time at Rolling Stone from 1971-1976, where he befriended Hunter S. Thompson.
The conversation shifts to his deep friendship with Thompson, whom he credits as the catalyst for his entire Hollywood career. Thompson championed Eszterhas's book 'Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse,' which became a National Book Award finalist and led to his first screenwriting gig at United Artists. He shares colorful stories of their time together in San Francisco, including Thompson shouting for strippers in a club and berating Eszterhas for having an affair while having a devoted wife at home.
A significant portion of the discussion covers Eszterhas's late-life conversion to Christianity following a stage four throat cancer diagnosis. He describes how fear, Naomi's Catholic faith, and the recovery process drew him back to Christ, and how he now considers Jesus of Nazareth one of his closest 'imaginary companions.' He argues that the Catholic Church has 'cosmeticized' Jesus, ignoring historical evidence of him as a Jewish zealot and freedom fighter. The two also explore the Shroud of Turin at length, with Rogan noting that no one has been able to recreate the image and that every proposed scientific explanation has serious problems.
The episode also covers Eszterhas's concerns about ICE enforcement creating a dangerous precedent for militarized police on American streets, his admiration for Trump's direct communication style while expressing reservations about specific policies, his memories of meeting Martin Luther King Jr. and giving him a ride to the airport, his breakfast with Jimi Hendrix at a Hungarian restaurant in Cleveland the day before Hendrix died, and his encounter with Otis Redding the night before Redding's fatal plane crash. He closes by discussing his wife Naomi's debut novel and reflecting on a life of extraordinary experience that only America could have provided.
Key Insights
- Eszterhas claims that Ukrainian President Zelensky and his wife watched Basic Instinct at least 15 times, beginning when they were courting, and he speculates semi-seriously that the film's boldness may have given Zelensky the courage to stand up to Putin.
- Eszterhas describes writing Basic Instinct in 13 days in Hawaii, snorting cocaine and listening to the Rolling Stones continuously, and says the script drew directly from two real experiences: an affair with a 39-year-old faculty wife when he was 18, and a friendship with a Cleveland cop he suspected enjoyed shooting people.
- Eszterhas credits Hunter S. Thompson as the direct cause of his Hollywood screenwriting career — Thompson championed his Rolling Stone work and his book 'Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse,' which led to a United Artists executive calling him out of the blue to write his first screenplay.
- Eszterhas argues that the Catholic Church has 'cosmeticized' Jesus of Nazareth into a Fred Rogers-like figure, ignoring historical evidence that he was a Jewish zealot and freedom fighter who said 'I come not to make peace but with a sword' and 'sell your cloak and buy a sword.'
- On the Shroud of Turin, Rogan and Eszterhas note that every proposed scientific mechanism for how the image was created — from chemical vapors to radiation bursts — has serious problems when tested against the cloth's measured properties, and no one has been able to recreate it, which Rogan argues means the possibility of its authenticity should not be dismissed.
Topics
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