“We were less interested in the lurid sexual nature of it [than] the idea that there was a time when people had to go to this gas station to be themselves, to be able to express their sexuality, to be able to express their fantasy,” said Murphy. “What we’re dealing with here is a complete look at an idea of buried history in Hollywood. The idea of people not being able to be who they were, and to show their best side of who they were.” With Hollywood, Murphy aimed to rewrite the past: “What if we went back and sort of did a revisionist look, and created an alternative universe?”