Written and directed by John Palmer and David Weisman, Warhol superstar Susan Bottomly (International Velvet) was initially intended to star in the film.

Through actual audio recordings of Sedgwick's account of her time in Warhol's Factory in New York City, paired with clips from the original unfinished script started in 1967, Ciao!

Manhattan began on March 26, 1967 as a project of Factory regulars John Palmer, David Weisman, Genevieve Charbin, Chuck Wein, Bob Margouleff, Gino Piserchio, with supplemental roles and tasks fulfilled by various other hangers-on.

[4] Unreliable actors and rampant drug abuse behind the camera pushed shooting out of control as both Sedgwick and America went missing, putting production on hold.

To salvage these fragments, Palmer and Weisman decided to reshape the script to include the previously shot footage as flashback sequences to tell Sedgwick's tragic story through the persona of Susan Superstar.

Manhattan was completed on May 25, 1972, and had its premiere in Amsterdam in July 1972 to critical acclaim,[citation needed] due in part to Sedgwick's onscreen presence and representation of a culture that she helped to define.

In October 2002, Plexifilm released a special edition DVD with additional 35mm outtake footage, rare pictures and interviews with the cast and crew of the film.