Variety Confidential

As the true crime content space continues to grow, both in documentary and audio formats, top producers, filmmakers and network executives behind shows like “Quiet on Set,” “The Fall of Diddy” and “House of Hammer” joined Variety’s Kate Aurthur, Emily Longeretta and Ethan Shanfeld for a special episode of “Variety Confidential.” The voices you’ll hear spoke with the Variety team during the inaugural True Crime Summit, presented by Investigation Discovery, at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

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With only 14 film credits, River Phoenix has left an indelible mark in Hollywood and beyond. In “The Icon,” the fourth episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ “Variety Confidential,” host Tatiana Siegel talks to Variety’s Owen Gleiberman and Brent Lang about the phenomenon of a Hollywood life taken too soon while Dr. Drew Pinsky explains how River’s untimely death reshaped the conversation around addiction.  

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.  

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River Phoenix’s story is one of brilliance and tragedy, and both his life and work illuminated the beauty and the darkness of the human experience. In “Gone Too Soon,” the third episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ “Variety Confidential,” host Tatiana Siegel uncovers the final days of River’s life up until that fateful night in October 1993, when Hollywood lost one of its brightest stars. Actor Samantha Mathis, River’s then-girlfriend who was with him when he died at age 23, details her memories including co-starring in “The Thing Called Love,” his last film that was released.  

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.  

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While “My Own Private Idaho” showcased River Phoenix’s brilliance as an actor, his time making the 1991 film also exposed him to the darker side of Hollywood. In “The Turning Point,” the second episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ “Variety Confidential,” host Tatiana Siegel delves into pivotal moments in River’s life with “Dogfight” director Nancy Savoca and his close friend Matt Ebert, who was a production assistant on “My Own Private Idaho.” 

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.  

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River Phoenix’s upbringing not only shaped his worldview but also ignited his artistic passions early on, laying the groundwork for his future career in Hollywood. The 1986 film "Stand By Me” catapulted him into the spotlight and established him as a household name. In “Rising Star,” the first episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ “Variety Confidential,” host Tatiana Siegel speaks with River's “Stand By Me” co-star Corey Feldman and Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman about River’s early career and rise to fame. 

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.  

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After starring in the 1935 film “Captain Blood,” actor Errol Flynn became the big screen’s foremost swashbuckler. Seven years later, two underage girls accused the golden age movie star of statutory rape. In “When You’re A Star,” the sixth episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ true crime podcast “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, look back at Flynn’s 1943 rape trial. 

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

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Known for “Chinatown,” “Rosemary's Baby” and “The Pianist,” Roman Polanski is one of the most acclaimed directors in cinematic history. He is also a convicted child rapist who has faced several sexual assault allegations over the course of his career.  

In “Disgraced Genius,” the fifth episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ true crime podcast “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, examine Polanski’s downfall after decades of Hollywood reverence. 

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

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Don Simpson reigned over Hollywood after joining forces with his producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer in the 1980s. Around town, the studio executive-turned-producer’s addiction to sex workers and drugs was no secret — and for decades, he wielded his power in the industry to continue his nefarious and erratic ways.  

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

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In episode 3 of “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly unearth the story of Henry Willson, an aggressive, midcentury Hollywood talent agent and manager who succeeded in both spotting and taking advantage of young actors within whom he saw potential for fame.  

Willson, a closeted gay man, would lure dozens of handsome young men, or “beefcakes” as they would come to be known, to his Los Angeles home after wining and dining them and promising fame. “He seems to have insinuated himself into their lives,” Pattin explains. “He became their friend, the parent, the protector, and in many cases, their lover.” 

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

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Darryl F. Zanuck was a legendary figure in Hollywood known for leading a major studio, producing top films and assaulting aspiring actresses in the 1930s. That same decade, the term "casting couch" surfaced to describe the abuse of power by Zanuck and other high-powered men who were the gatekeepers of access to the big screen.

In “4 O'clock Girls,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, detail Zanuck’s duplicitous and dangerous actions that reportedly took place daily at 4 p.m. in his office. 

For a full list of sources and citations for this episode, visit https://variety.com/h/variety-confidential/.

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