‘To Die For’ at 25: An Oral History of the Risky Indie-Meets-Studio Triumph

Editorial use onlyMandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/Shutterstock (788096hr)'To Die for' - Nicole KidmanITV ARCHIVESuzanne (Nicole Kidman) is a weathergirl on a local TV station who longs to be a high flying star on Network television.She marries local boy Tony Maretto (Matt Dillon) whose family are highly suspicious of her true intentions.Her ambition leads her to the local high school where she meets a group of young drop outs.When her husband becomes a hindrance,she seduces one of the group,Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix) and persuades them all to murder Tony.But will her in law's Italian background turn out to be more influential than she thought?

With his seminal 1995 film “To Die For,” Gus Van Sant proved what many assumed was an impossibility at the apotheosis of indie filmmaking: A director known for making movies apologetically in the margins of Hollywood (“Drugstore Cowboy,” “My Own Private Idaho”) could collaborate with a major studio without the former sacrificing his edge and the latter losing a hell of a lot of money.

But how the Sony/Columbia Pictures release — centered on aspiring small-town TV reporter Suzanne Stone Maretto (Nicole Kidman), who coerces a pair of dim, teen townies to kill her husband — came to be is unto itself a juicy, celluloid-worthy saga.

From the novel that started it all (based loosely on the real-life tabloid drama of Pamela Smart, who was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill her husband in 1990), to the A-listers who almost got cast — Meg Ryan, Matt Damon, and Sandra Bullock, for three; to Van Sant’s tricky collaboration with two industry legends (“The Graduate” screenwriter Buck Henry and “Pretty Woman” producer Laura Ziskin) and the dismal test screenings that almost killed the movie altogether, “To Die For” has endured because its collaborators refused to pander to their audience.

The film was also the first American-made starring vehicle for then-breakout Australian actor Kidman, whose embrace of a sociopathic, anti-hero female protagonist — before that was trendy — would set in motion for the future Oscar-winner (“The Hours”) one of Hollywood’s most enviable, enduring careers. And speaking of Oscars, “To Die For” also showcased impressive early turns by recent winners Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”) and Casey Affleck (“Manchester By the Sea”); and Van Sant himself would later earn two directing nominations, for 1998’s “Good Will Hunting” and 2008’s “Milk.”

As they mark the upcoming 25th anniversary of the film’s release on September 27, 14 creatives who worked with Van Sant both in front-of and behind the camera reveal what it took to make a killer example of what happens when studio’s risk-taking collides with uncompromising art.
Novel Inspiration

Joyce Maynard, author, “To Die For”: In the summer of 1990, my three children left for two weeks to spend time with their father. I decided to use the time to write another novel. I tend to write quickly, as I had with my first book, ‘Baby Love,’ and my goal was to finish this one in two weeks. But I didn’t know what it was going to be. On day one, I opened the newspaper to see that Pamela Smart had been indicted for conspiring to murder her husband. I’d been transfixed by the media coverage and how she was portrayed as ‘the grieving widow.’ She was very telegenic. It fascinated me. Growing up, I’d watched a lot of TV in order to experience so-called ‘normal life.’ I wanted to be the daughter the Cleavers never had! Only later would I realize the degree to which I had been shaped by those images. So I had those two weeks and wrote ‘To Die For’ in a white heat. It was published two years later in 1992.

Laura Ziskin produced “To Die For” after steering 1990’s ‘Pretty Woman’ to huge success. She would later produce Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy and co-found Stand Up to Cancer before passing away in 2011.

Amy Pascal, then executive vice-president of Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures: My job was to find and fall in love with projects, and lobby to get them made. Laura Ziskin [who passed away in 2011 at 61 after a long battle with breast cancer] had a producing deal with the studio and brought me Joyce’s book. We decided to buy the rights.

Gus Van Sant, director : Laura brought the project to my William Morris agent at the time, John Burnham. Buck Henry [who died in early 2020 at 89 after suffering a heart attack] was his client too, which was one of the reasons I’d signed with him. Buck had mentioned to John that he wanted to work with me. So John said, ‘OK, Buck writes, you direct, and Laura produces.’ The budget was around $15 million — a lot for me, but somewhat low for a studio at the time. Sony would split the cost with the Rank Organisation in the U.K., which would do international.

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