Politics
Tuesday August 25, 2009
Infamous Hollywood Screenwriter to Pen Film on Our Lady of Guadalupe - Patroness of the Unborn
Calls the project a "labor of love."
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Patrick B. Craine
CLEVELAND, Ohio, August 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - 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."
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Gibson's Apocalypto Connection to Spanish-Language Film "Guadalupe"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/dec/06121208.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Appeal Filed to Give D.C. Voters Right to Vote on Gay “Marriage” Law
- San Francisco Chronicle: “Open Secret” That Prop. 8 Judge is “Gay”
- Cardinal George Denounces "New Ways Ministry" as Pseudo-Catholic Organization
- Vatican: Population Growth is a Means of Overcoming Poverty, Not a Cause of It
- “Bogus Compassion” is Killing Children and Corrupting Society: Belgian Philosopher
- Indian Court Rules Born and Unborn Are Equal
- United Nations Urges Nicaragua to Legalize Abortion
- Vatican Consultant Responds to 'Completely Ignorant' IPPF Accusation
- Irony: 19-Child Duggar Family Renting Former Home of Local Planned Parenthood Leader
- Document Reveals Inconsistencies in ND's Jenkins Claims on ND88
- New Country Music Star Born as Pro-Life Ballad Climbs the Charts
- Commentary on February 8 News
- Police Refuse to Release Federal "Threat Assessment" on Wis. Pro-Lifers
- Canadian Human Rights Commission Appeals Ruling against Hate Messages Statute
- Homosexual Activist Keith Norton Dies at 69
- Letters to the Editor
Most Read this Week
- Veterans, Former Army Legal Chief Defend “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- Planned Parenthood President Lands Spot on Ford Foundation Board
- Rabbis Warn against 'Disaster' of Open Homosexuality in the Military
- Football Pros Give Support to Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad
- Clash of the Abortion Titans: Planned Parenthood Launches 'Pro-Choice' Football Ad
- Canadian Station Pulls Pro-Life Ad – Too “Graphic”
- Hijacking the Brain — How Pornography Works
- Group Exposes Media "Fraud" at March for Life
- U.S. Sisters in Crisis after Embracing “Secular Culture”: Vatican Cardinal
- NYT: Rampant Polygamy in Gay 'Marriage' May Benefit Institution
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.