Infamous Hollywood Screenwriter to Pen Film on Our Lady of Guadalupe - Patroness of the Unborn

Life Site News ^ | 8-25-09 | Patrick B. Craine

[STARWISE]

Calls the project a "labor of love."

~~~~

Infamous Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, 64, known for such sordid films as Basic Instinct and Showgirls, has undergone a conversion and now will be writing a new film on Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Eszterhas has been one of Hollywood's most influential screenwriters, writing lucrative blockbuster films, such as Flashdance, Jagged Edge, and Basic Instinct, and raking in million-dollar paychecks. Known for living the full 'Hollywood lifestyle', Eszterhas gave it up to move home to Ohio with his wife and children in the late 1990s.

In 2001, faced with throat cancer resulting from his smoking and alcohol addictions, which threatened to kill him, Eszterhas turned to God in desperation.

"Seven years ago, I sat down on a curb near my home, sobbing, and asked God to help me," he writes in a September 2008 Washington Post article. "I cried and begged God to help me ... and He did. I hadn't prayed since I was a boy. I had made fun of God and those who loved God in my writings. And now, through my sobs, I heard myself asking God to help me ... and from the moment I asked, He did."

God, he says, cured him of his disease, but, more than that, He gave him the strength to turn away from his worldly life and back to the Catholic faith. "Not only did He give me the strength to be able to defeat my addictions," he wrote, "He saved my life. My throat surgeon ... told me seven years after the surgery that I am 'cured.' Not that I am in remission, but that I am cured. ... My life has turned inside-out. I have stopped my excesses and replaced them with prayer and long walks. I am carrying the cross as often as they'll let me at Holy Angels Church in Bainbridge Township, Ohio. And I have written a book as a thank-you to God. Not just for saving my life, but for saving me."

Eszterhas shares his story of conversion in his 2008 book, Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith.

This summer it was revealed that Eszterhas will be writing the screenplay for a new movie about Our Lady of Guadalupe. He is calling it a "labor of love," and has indicated that he had been "hoping for some time to write a film that is both entertaining and inspiring."

The Guadalupe story is indeed inspiring, especially for those concerned with the defense of human life in our day. The Catholic Church has declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the official patroness of the unborn.

Appearing miraculously on the cloak of a young Aztec peasant, St. Juan Diego, in 1531, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is credited with inspiring the conversion to Christianity of some 9 million natives from a violent pagan religion that gloried in human sacrifice.

The film, currently unnamed, will be produced by Mpower Pictures, the company founded by The Passion of the Christ producer Steve McEveety. The company was launched with the film Bella, winner of the 2006 People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

According to McEveety the film should be made because of the significance of the Guadalupe event. "Guadalupe changed the course of history for the indigenous peoples of Mexico," he said. "It had a transformative effect on their culture, and especially their faith."

[STARWISE]

My Base Instincts and God's Love ~~ By Joe Eszterhas

Incredible miracles .. God's blessings and mercy on him are truly profoundly stunning. His previous life was extraordinarily depraved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Huckabee's show this week, I heard him relate a story I'd never heard about Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba, and their experience during that horrible time of the 2000 recount. Did some searching .. it's apparently true. Amazingly also, the decision from SCOTUS came down on Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast Day, December 12, 2000. I'll never forget the horrible anxiety, tears and stress of those days. I sobbed, too, when Pres. Bush was finally shown to be the winner, and wish so much he was still President. We were truly blessed with him. May God always bless and protect him and his sweet lady, Laura, and may He so bless us again ... I pray soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Lady of Guadalupe please pray for the Unborn

In the year 2000, many of us lived through those anxious 35 days when the election had been thrown into the courts. I know that many in the country were praying fervently that George Bush would win, that someone who was pro-life would once again hold the Presidency.

During those anxious days, I approached my pastor (now retired) and mentioned to him how upset I was about all of this. Out of the blue he said to me, “I’m not worried because I know Our Lady of Guadalupe will give George Bush the election.”

At the time, I fluffed it off as a pious statement. Of course, I didn’t even ponder why my pastor, not a particularly political man and definitely not one given to pious pronouncements would be saying something so completely out of character (for him).

Fast forward to the day the Supreme Court handed down the decision that decided the election (essentially stopping the endless recounts). I had promised Our Lady of Guadalupe that I would celebrate her feast day and pray for the election by attending the special Mass at my Church on December 12.

As I was about to leave for this evening Mass, the news came out that the Supreme Court had rendered a decision. The initial reaction of the Fox News commentator that Al Gore had won was all I heard as I left for Mass. I was weeping throughout the Mass (a little embarrassing) and trying to offer this up to Our Lord for our country.

To my incredible surprise when I arrived home, my husband met me at the door telling me that George Bush had won. My tears of sorrow were turned to joy. And for those in the pro-life movement George Bush has been a good President.

A few years later, I heard something that again surprised me: that Jeb Bush who met his wife, Columba, while teaching English in Leon, Guanajato, Mexico in 1971 (Columba was born in Leon) made a pilgrimage with her to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the election crisis. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of North and South America and patroness of the unborn. Amazing when you realize that the election was decided for the unborn on Our Lady’s feast day, December 12. Here are three online sources that reference this pilgrimage by Jeb Bush and his wife:

Here, here, and here.

[STARWISE]

~~PING!

[ReleaseTheHounds]

I hope they hire Hillary as an expert contributor asking “who was the artist?” on camera...

[STARWISE]

;) ... that was a supremely ‘duh’ moment.

[pray4liberty]

I had made fun of God and those who loved God in my writings. And now, through my sobs, I heard myself asking God to help me ... and from the moment I asked, He did."

May YHWH be praised.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Haven’t heard that Bush has decided to go with anybody other than the Methodist church he grew up in. Methodists in the south are likely to be double-down Christians.

[dsc]

10:11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.

10:12. But the hireling and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and flieth: and the wolf casteth and scattereth the sheep,

10:13. And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep.

10:14. I am the good shepherd: and I know mine, and mine know me.

10:15. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep.

10:16. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice: And there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

10:17. Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

10:18. No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself. And I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

*************************************

18:11. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

18:12. What think you? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and goeth to seek that which is gone astray?

18:13. And if it so be that he find it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that, than for the ninety-nine that went not astray.

18:14. Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

*************************************

3:20. Behold, I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him: and he with me.

[domenad]

Rather than a badge like “infamous”, can’t we just say “guy who makes crapcan movies?”

[BlueAngel]

Thanks for posting this, STARWISE!

[the invisib1e hand]

Nice picture. Who painted it? -- Hillary Clinton

[narses]

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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[Salvation]

There is so much Mayan history in the portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe left on St. Juan Diego's tilma.

Prayer for Life

 

Dearest Lady of Guadalupe, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me your ways of gentleness and strength.  Hear my prayer, offered with deep-felt confidence to beg this favor...

O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to thee under the glorious Aztec title of "Guadalupe"--the Virgin who crushed the serpent.

Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by seven swords of grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns strewn across my pathway.  Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that, thus enlightened and strengthened, I may prefer God to all creatures and shun every occasion of sin.

Help me, as a living branch of the vine that is Jesus Christ, to exemplify His Divine charity always seeking the good of others. Queen of Apostles, aid me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior.  Keep my apostolate fearless, dynamic and articulate, to proclaim the loving solicitude of Our Father in Heaven so that the wayward may heed His pleading and obtain pardon, through the merits of your merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

[silent_jonny]

Thank you so much for posting this, Star! I never knew about Eszterhas' amazing return to God. We may give up on Him, but He never gives up on us!

Amazingly also, the decision from SCOTUS came down on Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast Day, December 12, 2000.

I didn't know that either. George W. Bush was THE MOST pro-life president this country has ever had. No other president did so much in defense of the unborn, no other president endured the attacks he endured so that even unclaimed frozen embryos could have a chance at life.

And for this he was mocked, ridiculed, burned in effigy ... but he was proved RIGHT!

God bless our former president, and may God have mercy on our nation. We have traded our most pro-life president for a pro-infanticide usurper.

[STARWISE]

So much ... thank you so much for
posting it.

I didn’t want to lengthen my first
post any longer.

[Robwin]

I am more than pleased to hear Mr Esterhas has converted to Christ, but I can only wonder who would buy a script from him after that disaster Showgirls.

[NordP]

STAR you always light the way!

[rabidralph]

Our Lady shrine in La Crosse, WI

[Sun]

Thank you!

[Marysecretary]

I LOVE a good conversion story.

[STARWISE]

Achingly true, jonny ...

I was really struck by the 3rd link of my post, and it supposedly was given in 1974. We know that this blessed and special man, our President George W. Bush, has been and will be hounded, mocked and persecuted until the unthinkably tragic day when he leaves this earthly plane and joins his Lord.

And, yet he remains serenely above the arrows and screams of the wicked mobs, peacefully and confidently living his days lovingly, with the Lord of All in his heart and soul and at his side:

We must continue to pray for the life and health
of Pres. George W. Bush and our nation. I have a
feeling more miracles are yet to come.