To Die For (1995)

A beautiful but naïve aspiring television personality films a documentary on teenagers with a darker ulterior motive.

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writers:

Joyce Maynard (book), Buck Henry (screenplay)

Stars:

Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicole Kidman	...	Suzanne Stone
Matt Dillon	...	Larry Maretto
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Jimmy Emmett
Casey Affleck	...	Russel Hines
Illeana Douglas	...	Janice Maretto
Alison Folland	...	Lydia Mertz
Dan Hedaya	...	Joe Maretto
Wayne Knight	...	Ed Grant
Kurtwood Smith	...	Earl Stone
Holland Taylor	...	Carol Stone
Susan Traylor	...	Faye Stone
Maria Tucci	...	Angela Maretto
Tim Hopper	...	Mike Warden
Michael Rispoli	...	Ben DeLuca
Buck Henry	...	Mr. H. Finlaysson

Storyline

Suzanne Stone (Kidman) knows exactly what she wants. She wants to be a television newscaster and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in cold determination and diabolical wiles. As she pursues her goal with relentless focus, she is forced to destroy anything and anyone that may stand in her way, regardless of the ultimate cost or means necessary.

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Plot Keywords:

new hampshire | television | femme fatale | satire | black comedy | 

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Taglines:

All she wanted was a little attention.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, and for language

Details

Country:

USA UK Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 October 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Todo por un sueño

Filming Locations:

King City Secondary School, King City, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$21,284,514

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Laura Ziskin Productions, Rank Organisation, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Connelly, Joan Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Holly Hunter, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tatum O'Neal, Mary-Louise Parker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brooke Shields and Uma Thurman were all considered for the lead before the role was offered to Meg Ryan. She, however, later changed her mind and left the project, which made director Gus Van Sant fear the film would be shelved without its top-line star. At this point, Nicole Kidman stepped in.

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Goofs

When Lydia calls Suzanne to set up the last meeting, we see a large device taped to her abdomen. At the mall, with the detectives listening, Suzanne pokes Lydia in exactly the same spot, but neither she feels nor do we see the device under Lydia's shirt.

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Quotes

Suzanne Stone Maretto: [to Lydia in the dressing room] Well, you grow up, you know? You think it's all gonna be like a fairytale. Like you're Sleeping Beauty, and along comes this Prince Charming, and he looks at you, and it's night time, and he smiles at you and kisses you.
Lydia Mertz: Yeah, I - I know that story.
Suzanne Stone Maretto: And then... then you wake up... and it's daylight... and you look at him. It's just when you work all day, trying to perfect yourself and create something meaningful, you expect some support. Does anyone ever say "Did ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The credits say that Misha is played by Walter but in fact, in the movie the dog's name was Walter and its real name is Misha.

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Connections

Referenced in The Larry Sanders Show: Putting the 'Gay' Back in Litigation (1998)

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Soundtracks

GODANGINUTA
Performed by Keiko Nosaka and Sachiko Miyamoto
Courtesy of Nonesuch Records
A division of Warner Communications Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

This one will stay with you a little bit

Clever story with more depth that appears at first blush, directed with irony and a sardonic sense of humor by Gus Van Sant. Nicole Kidman plays an especially shallow TV weather person who gets some grunge kids to kill her husband for her. Her motive is, as Illeana Douglas, who plays the sister-in-law, says, "he got in her way." This is a nice study of narcissism metastasized into psychopathology. She is headstrong, motivated and rather stupid. She thinks only of herself and would do anything for herself and would do anything to anybody who got in her way. And amazingly, she does.

Matt Dillon is wasted as the husband (in more ways than one). I'm surprised he agreed to do the part. Kidman is mesmerizing and makes us believe in a slightly unbelievable character. We've all known narcissistic little darlings who would kill you for the right shade of eye shadow, but to see it acted out so coldly and with such appalling stupidity, yet with a psychology so bizarre that it has to be real, fairly takes your breath away. It was especially apt that she had him killed so that her pointless little docu-drama "Teens Speak Out" could become newsworthy enough for national exposure. Consicously she doesn't realize this: she has no introspection; she just acts.

Also cute is the way the picture is framed: a pseudo-documentary within a pseudo-documentary. Everything is so well orchestrated that when Kidman gets her surprising, but entirely appropriate comeuppance at the end, we are quite pleased.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)