Hal Ashby and the Making of Harold and Maude by James A. Davidson
The original script was sold to a major Hollywood studio virtually overnight: the screenwriter was working as a pool boy and driver for the producer; the director was considered an acid freak by the studio heads; the star was a 74-year old actress who didn't know how to drive a car. The film flopped upon release and later became one of the great cult successes of all time. This is the fascinating, never before told story of the making of Harold and Maude, shot guerrilla-style in the San Francisco Bay Area by a crew of New Hollywood filmmakers in the winter of 1971.