Peter Bogdanovich was a 31-year-old stage actor, film essayist, and critic, with two small films – "Targets" (also known as "Before I Die") and "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" (both 1968) – to his directorial credit, the first of these having been made with his wife and collaborator, Polly Platt. As Bogdanovich said in a conversation with "The Hollywood Reporter", while waiting in a cashier's line in a drugstore, he happened to look at the rack of paperbacks and his eye fell on an interesting title, "The Last Picture Show". The back of the book said it was about "kids growing up in Texas" and Bogdanovich decided that it did not interest him and put it back. A few weeks later, actor Sal Mineo handed Platt a copy of the book. "I always wanted to be in this", he said, "but I'm a little too old now" and recommended that Platt and Bogdanovich make it into a film. According to Bogdanovich's recollection, Platt said, "I don't know how you make it into a picture, but it's a good book."