Free Republic

"I was the schlub, the leper, the maggot, the nigger," Joe Eszterhas writes in his new book, Hollywood Animal, "… the screenwriter for Christ's sake as star!" That bon mot sums up everything you need to know about Eszterhas, the man who wrote Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and other crucial additions to American cinema. Hollywood Animal is the Basic Instinct of autobiographies: a few titillating episodes buried under piles and piles of bilious nonsense. In Slate's continuing effort to save you from reading big, long books of questionable merit, we have assembled a guide to Eszterhas' juiciest bits. Begin Hollywood Animal...