To Die For

To Die For is a 1995 criminal comedy-drama film, made in a mockumentary format, directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Buck Henry, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, which in turn was inspired by the story of Pamela Smart. It stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, and Joaquin Phoenix. Major supporting roles feature Illeana Douglas, Wayne Knight, Casey Affleck, Kurtwood Smith, Dan Hedaya, and Alison Folland. Kidman was nominated for a BAFTA and won a Golden Globe Award and a Best Actress Award at the 1st Empire Awards for her performance. Her character has been described as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder in the scientific journal BMC Psychiatry.

The film includes cameos by George Segal, David Cronenberg, author Maynard, and screenwriter Henry. It features original music by Danny Elfman.

Plot
Suzanne Stone has always been obsessed with being on TV, aspiring to become a world-famous broadcast journalist. She marries Larry Maretto, due to mutual attraction and also because his family restaurant business will keep her financially comfortable, and starts attempting to climb the network news ladder, beginning as a part-time secretary at a local cable station, WWEN. Through relentless persistence, she's eventually promoted to doing the station's evening weather report.

When Larry starts telling her to take time off from her career to start a family and help out at the restaurant, she immediately begins plotting to get rid of him. To this end, she uses the high-school subjects of the TV documentary she's been making, "Teens Speak Out"; she seduces one of them, Jimmy Emmett, and manipulates him and his friends, delinquent Russell Hines and shy Lydia Mertz, into killing Larry. With the help of Russell and Lydia, Jimmy ultimately commits the murder.

Though Larry's death is ruled a burglary-murder, the police begin investigating when they stumble across a "Teens Speak Out" clip of Suzanne at Jimmy's school, in which Jimmy hints at a relationship with Suzanne, provided by her boss, Ed Grant. Jimmy, Russell and Lydia are arrested and they are connected to the crime scene. Lydia makes a deal with the police to converse with Suzanne while wearing a wiretap, and Suzanne unwittingly reveals her hand in the murder. Despite this undeniable proof of Suzanne's guilt, however, by arguing that the police had resorted to entrapment, she is released on bail. Suzanne basks in the media spotlight as she talks to reporters about Larry's death, and fabricates a story about her husband being a drug addict and being murdered by Jimmy and Russell as his dealers. Jimmy and Russell are sentenced to life in prison, though Russell appeals against his sentence and receives sixteen years instead, while Lydia is released on probation for her cooperation.

Larry's father, Joe, sees Suzanne lying about Larry on television and realizes she was behind his son's death; he uses his Mafia connections to have her murdered. The hitman lures Suzanne away from her home by pretending to be an agent interested in broadcasting her life story, kills her, and then places her beneath the ice, in a lake. Lydia gains national attention by telling her side of the story in a television interview, becoming a celebrity. Larry's sister, Janice, practices her figure skating on the frozen lake where Suzanne's corpse is hidden.

Production
To Die For is a mixture of styles, combining a traditional drama with darkly comic direct-to-camera monologues by Kidman's character, and mockumentary interviews, some tragic, with certain of the other characters in the film.

The film and the novel it is based on were both inspired by the facts that emerged during the trial of Pamela Smart, a school media services coordinator who was imprisoned for seducing a 16-year-old student and convincing him to kill her husband.

The role of Suzanne Stone was originally offered to Meg Ryan, who turned down the part and the $5 million salary offered. Kidman, who was later cast in the role, was paid $2 million.

Critical reception
The film was screened out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. To Die For currently holds an 87% "certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews.

Katherine Ramsland of Crime Library describes the film as an example of a work displaying women with antisocial personalities; Ramsland describes Suzanne as a "manipulator extraordinaire" who harms people through third parties.

In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film "an irresistible black comedy and a wicked delight" and added, "[it] takes aim at tabloid ethics and hits a solid bull's-eye, with Ms. Kidman's teasingly beautiful Suzanne as the most alluring of media-mad monsters. The target is broad, but Gus Van Sant's film is too expertly sharp and funny for that to matter; instead, it shows off this director's slyness better than any of his work since Drugstore Cowboy ... Both Mr. Van Sant and Ms. Kidman have reinvented themselves miraculously for this occasion, which brings out the best in all concerned."

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said of Kidman, "[she] brings to the role layers of meaning, intention and impulse. Telling her story in close-up – as she does throughout the film – Kidman lets you see the calculation, the wheels turning, the transparent efforts to charm that succeed in charming all the same ... her beauty and magnetism are electric. Undeniably she belongs on camera, which means it's equally undeniable that Suzanne belongs on camera. That in itself is an irony, a commentary or both."

Emanuel Levy wrote, "mean-spirited satire, told in mock-tabloid style, this film features the best performance of Nicole Kidman to date (better than The Hours for which she won an Oscar), as an amoral small-town girl obsessed with becoming a TV star."

American Film Institute recognition:
 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
 * Suzanne Stone – Nominated Villain
 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated