A lively, well-researched book that displays great affection for the film and the highly gifted and vastly troublesome people who made it.

Glenn Frankel, Washington Post

Good, harrowing fun.

The Wall Street Journal

Gefter deftly blends social history, textual analysis, and Hollywood gossip.

The New Yorker

Terrific! With a dynamically deft touch, Gefter chronicles how a uniquely volatile mix of timing, talent, pressure, and passion turned a landscape-altering play into a cinematic detonation.

Steven Soderbergh, Academy Award-winning filmmaker