It was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Village Voice article "Death of a Playmate" by Teresa Carpenter and is based on Canadian Playboy model Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her husband Paul Snider in 1980.

The film stars Mariel Hemingway as Stratten and Eric Roberts as Snider, with Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Rees, Stuart Damon, Josh Mostel, and David Clennon in supporting roles.

Snider, a brash small-time scam artist and pimp, first meets Stratten two years earlier while she works at a Dairy Queen in her native Vancouver.

Working under the delusion that he is Dorothy's only path to realization, Paul tries to run her life, uncovering a possessive streak in the process, and insists on being her personal manager.

These pictures make their way to Playboy magazine founder and publisher Hugh Hefner who invites Dorothy to Los Angeles for a photo shoot.

Hefner makes Stratten Playmate of the Month for the August 1979 issue, provides lodging for her and gives her a job as a bunny at an L.A. Playboy Club.

He proposes marriage to Dorothy over the phone, flies to Los Angeles and alienates everyone in the Playboy Mansion with his uncouth and nervously sycophantic demeanor.

They share a rented house in Rancho Park with another couple and enjoy a large social entourage, but Dorothy becomes increasingly disenchanted by Paul's possessiveness and tacky sleaze.

Snider, on the other hand, feels deeply insecure after losing money on failed business ventures and being eclipsed by his wife's success.

Still adamant to remain influential on her life, Paul pesters her with constant phone calls that even interrupt her fiming sessions, and becomes a fixture at the Playboy Mansion despite lacking a formal invitation from Hefner.

Famous film director Aram Nicholas first discovers Dorothy among the skaters at a Playboy Mansion roller disco party.

Broke, dejected and increasingly volatile, Paul correctly surmises Aram's influence on Dorothy's shift in decisions and mannerisms, but fails to accept that his marriage is effectively over.

A chaotic and reproachful interaction ensues, at the end of which Paul rapes Dorothy, shoots her in the head with the shotgun and then proceeds to violate her corpse on a sex contraption of his own design.

The idea for the project began when Bob Fosse's friend Paddy Chayefsky recommended a Pulitzer Prize-winning article about Stratten written by Teresa Carpenter that had appeared in The Village Voice.

Mariel Hemingway believed she was ideal for the part and campaigned for it vigorously with letters, telephone messages and visits to Fosse's home.

Years later in a 1998 interview, Hefner had let off on some of his dislike of the film, saying that it did not capture Stratten's essence but he did praise Eric Roberts for "an excellent portrayal of the sick man who murdered her".

Director Peter Bogdanovich, Stratten's boyfriend at the time of her murder, expressed opposition to the project, arguing that Fosse "didn't know the true story."