This is the remarkable memoir of Lidia Lukes-Hitchcock, a film production manager who fled communist Prague to forge a prolific career making Hollywood blockbusters.

Leaving Czechoslovakia seemed impossible, but a chance encounter with Barbra Streisand changed everything. Inspired, Lidia spent years meticulously planning a daring escape from the grey streets of Communist Prague to the bright lights of Hollywood, with her young son by her side. Lidia’s determination and resilience eventually propelled her to London, where she forged a new life working on some of the biggest films of the 1990s and 2000s.

A key figure on films like Mission: Impossible, The Saint, The Man in the Iron Mask and Cast Away, Lidia has worked with stars such as Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Connery, Richard Gere, and Tom Hanks, as well as legendary directors including Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, and John Woo.

Escape to Hollywood emerges from behind the iron curtain and onto the red carpet with a star-studded cast that would be the envy of anyone in show business. This is a story that only Tinseltown could produce.