October 07, 2025

Episode 299 - To Die For

3 hours 10 minutes

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.

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

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