A rare picture of J.D. Salinger has been revealed ahead of the release of the highly aniticpated documentary, Salinger, about the author's life.  on

The picture, exclusively on Entertainment Weekly, is sourced from Shane Salerno's cache of research materials, which he used for the documentary and biography. Salerno is the director and screenwriter of Salinger and also wrote a biography about the author which will hit shelves three days before the film's release.

The picture was taken by Paul Fitzgerald, who served alongside Salinger as a counterintelligence agent in WWII, taken during the Liberation of Paris in August of 1944.

Salerno spoke to EW about the picture, in an interview published with the picture today.

Salinger is seen smiling in the picture, an image quite contrary to the bleak portrayal of his persona in public. Salerno said that it "was an ecstatic day for Salinger and the other members of the Allied forces. It's extremely unusual to find a photo of Salinger smiling like this-the flip side of the dark, sullen soul that is perpetually portrayed."

Salerno also spoke to the publication about how this moment was pivotal in Salinger's life and contributed to his later work:

"It places him at the liberation of Paris, and World War II would be the crucible of his life. He entered the war as a Park Avenue rich kid and returned home in 1946 a shell-shocked soldier suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Also, the photo was taken immediately before he met his idol, Ernest Hemingway, in a Paris hotel room, where Salinger gave Hemingway a copy of the Saturday Evening Post in which Salinger's story "Last Day of the Last Furlough" had appeared. Hemingway expressed his admiration for Salinger as a soldier and writer. This photo captures Salinger during and just before two of the seminal moments of his life."

The documentary, which attempts to capture and humanize the mystical persona of the elusive author, took about nine years to make. Salerno (Armageddon, Savages) worked with code names, hidden identities and surveillance cameras while researching Salinger's life for this documentary and book. The production of the film was kept top secret through this period.

"It was run like a CIA operation. Everything was compartmentalized, top secret and on a need-to-know basis. It was really intense," co-producer Jeffrey Doe told The Associated Press about the making of the film. In the nine years, Salerno managed to conduct more than 100 interviews with Salinger's friends, war buddies and fans. The film also features interviews with the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ed Norton, who are great fans of Salinger.

A biography about Salinger will be accompanying documentary and will hit shelves Sept. 3.

Watch the trailer of the film:

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