[2] The Goodman Theatre production was directed by Robert Falls, and starred Matthew Modine, Harris Yulin, Frances Fisher, Stacy Keach, Stephen Lang, Linda Lavin, Scott Glenn, and Heather Prete.
[4] Finishing the Picture is a thinly veiled autobiographical examination of the time Miller and his then-wife Marilyn Monroe spent shooting The Misfits (1961).
[4] Miller and Monroe's marriage was deteriorating at the time of shooting — the summer and fall of 1960 — due to her rampant drug abuse, her open infidelity with actor Yves Montand, and her panoply of mental illnesses.
The play opens with the producer, who must decide whether to cancel the late, over-budget picture altogether, or whether Kitty will be able to finish.
Kitty's secretary, a kind-hearted young woman, is said to have been modelled after artist Agnes Barley,[citation needed] who was Miller's live-in girlfriend at the time of the production and was 55 years his junior.