|
New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.
Home | Archive | About | Blog | Lists | Links | E-mail me | Sign up for my weekly newsletter! | Darling Companion **1/2 God Bless America *** Marvel's The Avengers ***1/2 ReGeneration *** Sound of My Voice *** The Pirates! Band of Misfits ***1/2 The Raven *** Safe **1/2 The Lucky One 1/2* 4:44 Last Day on Earth **1/2 Blue Like Jazz ** The Cabin in the Woods ***1/2 Damsels in Distress ***1/2 Lockout **1/2 The Three Stooges *** The Turin Horse **** We Have a Pope **1/2 American Reunion ** Goon *** More Maniac Cop Miss Representation Mother's Day (2012) Murder Obsession Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie Underworld Awakening The Vow Clueless Haywire Hit! Men in Black New Year's Eve The Red House More Abel Ferrara Nicholas Sparks Whit Stillman Sean Hayes Terence Davies Peter Lord Interview Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Taika Waititi Will Ferrell Interview: Ewan McGregor [SF Examiner] Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner] Interview: Oren Moverman Interview: Rachel McAdams Interview: Ti West Interview: Elizabeth Banks 2011: The Year's Best Films Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009 My Top 100 Films [Updated] My Top 60 Directors [Updated] Christmas Movies Essential Halloween & Horror Movies Cult Movies More Features and Interviews Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis More Books Reviews A-C Reviews D-F Reviews G-J Reviews K-M Reviews N-Q Reviews R-T Reviews U-Z The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!
© 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid |
Interview with Joe EszterhasBeating the DevilBy Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy The Devil's Guide to Hollywood.
A: Because I have to. I hear voices and I see images and I see stories unfolding inside my head. And when one desperately wants to come out, I have no choice. Q: What are you reading right now and why? A: I brought a James Ellroy that I'd read before called My Dark Places. I read an interview with him and I realized how much I like him as a writer. I've never claimed to be normal, but I suspect that Ellroy may be less so than I am. Q: There's a scene in your autobiographical movie Telling Lies in America in which one character debunks the myth of George Washington. Is that what you're doing with this book? A: Yeah I am. The first part of the title is a reference to The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. I laughed my head off when I read that. When I started thinking of the tone of this one I thought that was perfect. The second part of the title of course comes from the fact that screenwriters have been screwed over for so many years; I thought it would be funny to say that the screenwriter is God. You have to understand that the book is hyperbolic. Q: What is your writing schedule like? A: I'm very intense with it. I start working in the morning, I break for lunch; I go back to it in the afternoon. In the later afternoon, I walk five miles and I spend the rest of the day with the kids and [my wife] Naomi. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night if it gets too intense. It's like I'm hearing voices. I wrote Basic Instinct in 10 days. I heard these voices in my head and I was literally striving to keep up with the voices. Usually I write a rough draft with a pen and paper, or a manual typewriter. I have this collection of manual typewriters. I have about a dozen of them left; I pound the keys with two fingers. After a couple of scripts they fall to pieces.
September 18, 2006 |
| Home |
New Movies |
New DVDs & Blu-Ray |
Features |
News |
Search Reviews |
Classic Movies |
Film Books |
Gallery |
Links |
About |
Contact |