The Hollywood Reporter is today reporting that Joe Eszterhas will be returning to Hollywood for his next project based on the Virgin of Guadalupe, an icon of the Virgin Mary that supposedly appeared to a Mexican peasant in the 16th century.

This is a bit of a change of pace from his usual sexually charged material, but I don’t care.  I’m a massive fan of Eszterhas so in my opinion any Eszterhas is better than no Eszterhas.

Now if only he could convince Paul Verhoeven to direct it I’d be in heaven.  Maybe they could even talk about the canned sequel to Showgirls they planned on making.

(source = The Hollywood Reporter)

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YESSSSSS… Joe Eszterhas returns HollywoodHubbub

Frantic Faves is a way for me to review some of my favourite films.  Instead of regular reviews which focus on new theatrical releases, Frantic Faves allows me to go back in time and review films I love that may have been forgotten or undervalued by the masses.  Ultimately the segment is just like this site, another exercise in self-satisfaction and a means for me to write about the things I enjoy.

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Writer: Joe Eszterhas
Release Year: 1995

Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) hitches a ride to Las Vegas in a quest to become a dancer and soon sets about clawing and pushing her way to become the top of the Vegas showgirls.

I’m well aware that Showgirls is considered to be a favourite within the gay community, thanks in no small part to Gina Gershon, but I don’t care, I love this flick.  There’s an almost neverending amount of nudity that I don’t think you’d ever see in a Hollywood movie nowadays.  There’s a great soundtrack and some really impressive choreography too.  Taken seperately these are nothing special.  But when it’s all combined it forms one of my most enjoyable films.  I could watch this thing over and over.

Let’s get one thing straight though, this is not pornography or erotica.  Like I said, there’s a ton of nudity and a healthy dose of sex as well, but it never seems to come across as titillating.  In almost every instance (save for the rape of Molly) the sex is comedic, the acting is overdone, and the characters are loud and brash stereotypes.  But all this is done on purpose.  See Verhoeven and Eszterhas had already done the erotic thriller when they worked on Basic Instinct (a film which I think is dismissed too quickly), so Showgirls is something different.  Eszterhas has always said that he thought Showgirls was a comedy and I agree.  But it’s not an “erotic comedy” because there’s nothing particularly erotic about it.  If anything it’s a titty comedy, but that doesn’t seem to do the movie justice either.  If you’re after proof that this is a comedy take a look at the image below.  When you see the scene actually playing it’s like Kyle MacLachlan is waterboarding her.

The film just exudes that mid-90′s quality that’s so great but so hard to describe, and unfortunately that time has passed.  That’s one of the reasons why I was so disappointed when I learnt that there were already plans for a sequel which would have seen Nomi head off to Hollywood to take on the movie industry.  Eszterhas even had a treatment written titled Bimbos: Nomi Goes to Hollywood.  I’ve been trying for over a year to get hold of that with no success.  There’s even a nod to this plan in the closing of Showgirls when Nomi leaves Las Vegas and the sign with the distance to Los Angeles is in frame.  Ah, what I’d give to read that treatment.

CONCLUSION
There’s a common saying that “something is so bad that it’s good”.  Well I don’t think that’s the case with Showgirls.  It’s just good.  If you watch this thinking that it’s some erotic thriller or drama then you couldn’t be further off base.  It’s a comedy plain and simple.  How else do you explain dialogue like this:

Al Torres:  It must be weird, not having people cum on you.

That’s actually used in a scene which is meant to be touching.  When Al and Henrietta come to see Nomi and admit that they were wrong and she’s done a good job.  If that’s not comedy I don’t know what is.  If anything it’s having a little fun with the erotic sub-genre which seemed to pop up in the 90′s by fooling the viewer into thinking that’s what they’re watching, and then calling them on their misconception.

It’s also nice to know that although the movie bombed at the box office, it’s since gone on to earn over $100 million thanks to the home video market.  I love Verhoeven, I love Eszterhas, and I love this film.

FINAL GRADE: B+

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Frantic Faves: SHOWGIRLS HollywoodHubbub

It looks like one of my all-time favourites is heading back to Tinseltown.  Paul Verhoeven is making his way back to Hollywood as he’s signed on to develop and direct The Surrogate for 20th Century Fox.

Not to be confused with Bruce Willis’ upcoming sci-fi actioner, The Surrogate tells the story of a couple desperate to have a child who find themselves in an unbearable position when they find out the surrogate they hired to carry their baby is insane.

I’ve always been a big fan of Verhoeven and was more than a little disappointed when he left Hollywood a few years back, however if he never left I doubt he would of made the awesome Zwartboek (Black Book).

Verhoeven has a number of projects in the pipeline including Clandestine (a prequel to LA Confidential), The Paperboy (a murder/mystery about a journalist in 1960′s Florida), and The Thomas Crown Affair 2 (the sequel to the 1999 film starring Pierce Brosnan).

Now if only he could lure Joe Eszterhas out of retirement and the two collaborate on something like back in the old days, I think I could die a happy man.

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Paul Verhoeven to direct THE SURROGATE HollywoodHubbub

It’s a great day. After roughly one year of looking, I just got Male Pattern Baldness in.  I also got the newly announced Hesher which is set to star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson.

GANGLAND – Alex Tse
HESHER – Spencer Susser
MALE PATTERN BALDNESS – Joe Eszterhas

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New scripts HollywoodHubbub