I saw To Die For in theaters when the real-life Pamela Smart story was still fresh. Though similar true crime scandals still occur, today To Die For might play more like a general satire than a pointed commentary. Either way it’s a great movie.
In Criterion Collection’s new 4K UHD, the snowy small towns of Ontario look just like Fargo. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman)’s white background for her on camera interview is even brighter in 4K, but you still see the film grain in it.
To Die For has a lot of closeups with characters speaking directly to camera. Those faces are so expressive, you really see the subtleties of their performances, the unspoken manipulations of not just Suzanne. Kidman’s blue eyes pierce the screen too.
A new audio commentary with Director Gus Van Sant, Editor Curtiss Clayton and cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards reveals a lot of new insights. Early on, Van Sant tells the story of how Mike Nichols tried to get him booted off the movie. I’d heard about Meg Ryan and Matt Damon before but Ellen Degeneres was news to me. The trio also gets very technical about exposures and reprinting footage, specific lenses et. al.
35 minutes of deleted scenes include a healthy amount of establishing shots (at least two minutes’ worth), but also a lot more interview soundbites with Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix and Suzanne’s parents on talk shows. Many existing scenes have additional dialogue and you can see how Suzanne’s seduction of her student builds up.