Joe Eszterhas
Hungarian-American screenwriter, author and former Rolling Stone journalist known for Basic Instinct, Showgirls and Flashdance
Joe Eszterhas (Hungarian-American screenwriter, author and former Rolling Stone journalist known for Basic Instinct, Showgirls and Flashdance) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include Basic Instinct, Christianity, Addiction and recovery.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Basic Instinct
Eszterhas said critic Camille Paglia came around to calling Basic Instinct a post-feminist classic.
“It's a post-feminist classic, she says, and it's about women who don't have to hide their sexuality”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 9:59
Eszterhas said the Basic Instinct script drew bids from everyone and sold for a record $3 million.
“Everybody bid on it. It wound up selling for a record $3 million”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 7:53
Eszterhas said he wrote Basic Instinct alone in Hawaii while using cocaine.
“I wrote it in Hawaii. I went off to Hawaii by myself. I let the sun beat me up. I snorted some Coke”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 6:41
Eszterhas said his title for the planned third Basic Instinct film is Basic Instinct Jezebel.
“But this would be 3, and my title for it is Basic Instinct Jezebel”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 4:21
Christianity
Eszterhas attributed his survival of stage four throat cancer to his prayer life.
“And I felt afterwards that the reason I was able to beat a stage four cancer had to do with my prayer life”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 52:31
Eszterhas characterized Jesus as a Jewish zealot and freedom fighter executed by Rome.
“He was a Jewish zealot, a freedom fighter against the Roman Empire. He was crucified by the Romans”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 29:42
Eszterhas argued that his Christian scripts went unfinanced because they were too gritty for Christian backers and too religious for secular ones.
“I was just writing it for my heart, and that was too gritty. to get Christian kind of financing”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 27:00
Addiction and recovery
Eszterhas said cocaine was enjoyable but never inspired his writing.
“But I never felt that the Coke was inspirational. It was enjoyable”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 2:06:47
Eszterhas said he drank to silence the imaginary world of his scripts so he could function in daily life.
“And the booze makes it stop so that you can continue your normal familial daily obligations and schedules without having this stuff in your head”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 2:00:42
Other remarks
Eszterhas said Michael Ovitz threatened him when he announced he was leaving CAA.
“if you leave the agency, then my foot soldiers who go up and down Wilshire Boulevard will put you under the ground”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:36:46
Eszterhas said Trump is the first president to speak directly rather than condescendingly to working-class people.
“he's the first president that didn't talk down but talked directly to us”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:18:15
Hunter S. Thompson
Eszterhas suggested, contrary to liberal assumptions, that Thompson might have liked Donald Trump.
“But there's also a part of me that says he would have liked Trump”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:17:14
Eszterhas credited Hunter S. Thompson with the chain of events that led to his screenwriting success.
“All of that, which led to my success in screenplays and in the cinema, was thanks to Hunter”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:04:37
Kent State shootings
Eszterhas, who covered Kent State, blamed the rhetoric of Ohio's governor and National Guard chief for creating the atmosphere behind the shooting.
“the rhetoric that was coming from James Rhodes, the governor at the time, and from Sylvester Del Corso, who was the head of the National Guard”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:29:14
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Eszterhas said masked ICE agents trouble him as resembling the Gestapo.
“Yeah, I'm bothered by the mask too. It's too Gestapo-like to me”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:26:55
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
Eszterhas called Thompson's 1972 campaign book the best political commentary ever written, surpassing Theodore White's books.
“the 72 campaign book, which in my mind, is the best political commentary, including all of Teddy White's books”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:15:43
Shroud of Turin
Eszterhas said the available evidence suggests the Shroud of Turin dates from the 1300s.
“But the evidence, what there is, seems to indicate that it comes from the 1300s”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 38:04
The Last Temptation of Christ
Eszterhas argued that there is no historical basis for portraying Mary Magdalene as a prostitute.
“There's nothing that says that Mary Magdalene was a hooker of any kind. There's no proof for that in any way”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 31:32
Appearances
#2508 - Joe EszterhasThe Joe Rogan Experience · Jun 3, 2026 · 2 h 18 min
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas tells Joe Rogan about writing Basic Instinct, his friendship with Hunter S. Thompson, his Christian faith, the Shroud of Turin, ICE and encounters with music legends.
Often appears with
- Joe Rogan · 1 shared episode