The 2011 film The Conspirator tells the saga of Confederate widow Mary Surratt, tried for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth and others to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Although the Lincoln murder is widely taught, few know the full story. Screenwriter James D. Solomon began work on The Conspirator in 1993 at the Society Library, and he immersed himself in everything he could find on the subject over the next eighteen years. In this event, he discusses his research on the assassination and its aftermath, the process of seeing his hard work brought to the screen, and the film's many complex responses.