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Show Notes
You're not anyone unless you're on a podcast - It’s a full house this week as Ian, Liam, Megs & Kev are all actually in studio together for our 299th episode, sinking our teeth into Gus Van Sant’s razor-sharp media satire To Die For (1995). That’s right—no Zoom delays; no apologies, best wishes or excuses, just four podcasters, four microphones, and an unhealthy fascination with fame. We're skating on thin ice in our 299th episode as we discuss:
- We learn the name under which Joaquin Phoenix’s early films were classified—and why it might surprise you.
- There’s a lot of talk about what day of the week the podcast actually comes out on (and whether any of us even know).
- We all want to enter the alternate casting universe to see who the producers wanted to play Suzanne—and whether that version of the film would’ve worked at all.
- Is Suzanne Stone one of Nicole Kidman’s greatest performances—or is she just too good at being awful?
- How the film predicted the age of reality TV and social media fame years before they existed.
- What’s the line between ambition and sociopathy—and where does Suzanne fall on that spectrum?
- How Van Sant uses tone to walk the line between dark comedy and true crime tragedy.
- Why To Die For feels both 1990s and frighteningly current in 2025.
- Which scene left us most uncomfortable—and which line still gets a nervous laugh.
- And finally, whether To Die For is the Best Film Ever—or just the most chillingly relevant film you’ve never revisited.
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Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor.
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