‘Hit’ Player Wants to Set Record Straight

I have a simple rule of thumb when I assess a book that mentions me. I see how accurate the book’s account is of me and then assume that the rest of the book is as accurate . . . or not.

On that basis, I have serious doubts about Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters’ “Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood” (“A Hit With the Industry Insiders,” Calendar, June 20).

The authors state that my fee for writing the script “Gangland” was $1.6 million. It was not. My fee was $3.4 million.

One million dollars was paid to me when I signed the contract; $300,000 was to be paid when I began my first rewrite and another $300,000was to be paid when I finished my first rewrite. The remainder of the $3.4 million was to be paid through subsequent rewrites and the start of production.

The authors state that after I turned in my rewrite, in which I ignored most of Columbia’s notes for mental health reasons, “Columbia executives were incensed that Eszterhas had to be paid in full for so little effort.”

The truth is that I was not paid in full. I wrote off my remaining $1.8 million because I couldn’t deal with script notes that I thought were moronic, sophomoric, inane, elitist, dumb and dumber.

The authors then state that, during a disagreement in my home, Jon Peters “slammed his fist down on a glass coffee table and broke it.”

The truth is this: The coffee table was not glass but teak and was formerly owned by producer David Wolper. My wife and I bought it at the Wertz Brothers used furniture store in West Los Angeles. (That’s what happens when you write off $1.8 million.)

Jon Peters not only didn’t break David Wolper’s fine old teak table, he didn’t even dent it. He did, however, break his own hand and appeared in a cast at meetings the next day.

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The authors then state that Peters “stormed out of the house and leaped over Eszterhas’ security wall.”

The truth is that, after he slammed his fist on David Wolper’s table, as I was coming across the room at him, Jon Peters left . . . very quickly. While I am sure Jon would use the word “stormed” for what he did, I prefer the word “fled” or even “skedaddled.”

And as far as leaping over the wall is concerned--”I was just like Batman,” the authors quoted Jon--it never happened. I watched him as he skedaddled down the walk to the gate . . . which he opened . . . and then fled. He did have some difficulty with the gate because his hand hurt.

Nancy Griffin faxed me a couple months before the publication of “Hit & Run” asking that I call her about what my wife and I now call the David Wolper/Jon Peters incident. I did, left a message and never got a call back.

There are, of course, two sides to every story but what disturbs me about “Hit & Run,” speaking for myself, is that the authors were interested only in one side. It makes me wonder about the objectivity and accuracy of the rest of the book.

Jon Peters may view himself in a Batmanlike way, but reality has much more to do with the Wertz Brothers used furniture store . . . even in Hollywood.