By the 1990s Joe Eszterhas had evolved from a radical journalist to a successful screenwriter. His scripts for taut, sexual dramas such as Basic Instinct and Sliver earned him $3 million per picture. His writing was in such demand that Eszterhas became the first Hollywood writer to sign a long-term contract guaranteeing a percentage of "first dollar gross," a deal only granted to the biggest directors and stars.

Eszterhas also overturned the traditional anonymous status of the Hollywood writer. With his long hair, bushy beard, and heavy boots, he has projected a kind of mountain-man image, achieving a celebrity status and social profile on a par with the actors and actresses of his films. Maureen Dowd wrote in The New York Times that Eszterhas "has almost single-handedly changed the image of screenwriter from martyr to macho, banishing old images of Dorothy Parker in Hollywood moaning into her martini, 'I...