For 33 months, from 1977 to 1980, the nightclub Studio 54 was the place to be seen in Manhattan. A haven of hedonism, tolerance, glitz, and glamour, Studio was very hard to gain entrance to and impossible to ignore, with news of who was there filling the gossip columns daily.

Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two college friends from Brooklyn, succeeded in creating the ultimate escapist fantasy in the heart of the theater district. Rubell was the outgoing bon vivant who wanted to be everybody’s friend and was photographed with every celebrity du jour who entered the club and Schrager was the creative mastermind who shunned the limelight. Studio 54 was an instant success and a cash cow, but the dream soon imploded in financial scandal and the club’s demise.

With unprecedented access to Schrager, who tells the whole unvarnished story for the first time, and a treasure-trove of rare footage, director Matt Tyrnauer constructs a vivid, glorious portrait  of a  disco-era phenomenon, and  tells the story of  two friends  who stuck together through  an incredible  series of highs and lows.