| Music Box | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Music_Box_1989_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Costa-Gavras |
| Written by | Joe Eszterhas |
| Produced by | Irwin Winkler |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Patrick Blossier |
| Edited by | Joële Van Effenterre |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Tri-Star Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Hungarian |
| Budget | $18 million[1] |
| Box office | $6.3 million |
Music Box is a 1989 film by Costa-Gavras that tells the story of a Hungarian-American immigrant who is accused of having been a war criminal. The plot revolves around his daughter, an attorney, who defends him, and her struggle to uncover the truth.
The film was written by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Costa-Gavras. It stars Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat and Lukas Haas. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.[2]
It is loosely based on the real life case of John Demjanjuk.
According to Joe Eszterhas's book, Hollywood Animal, Eszterhas wrote the screenplay for Music Box almost ten years before learning, at age 45, that his father, Count István Esterházy, had concealed his wartime involvement in Hungary's Fascist and militantly racist Arrow Cross Party. According to Eszterhas, his father "organized book burnings and had cranked out the vilest anti-Semitic propaganda imaginable."[3]: 201 After this discovery, he severed all contact with his father, never reconciling before István's death.
Eszterhas had given his father a copy of the script to read before the movie was made, never thinking that his life would soon reflect his art.
- ^ "AFI|Catalog".
- ^ "Berlinale: 1990 Prize Winners". Berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
- ^ Joe Esztherhas (2008). Crossbearer: a memoir of faith. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-38596-5. OCLC 213300974.