8 Decades of The Hollywood Reporter The most glamorous and memorable moments from a storied history Van Sant and his To Die For star Kidman in Cannes in May1995 . 20 Years Ago, Gus Van Sant Hit Cannes With To Die For WO YEARS BEFORE got married to Tom Cruise in Gus Van Sant made real life” to play her in the movie household names out of version of her story. She got her Ben Af eck and Matt wish when Van Sant cast a then- DamonT with Good Will Hunting 28-year-old Nicole Kidman. (and nabbed nine Oscar nomina- Af er Suzanne’s husband they needed to reshoot because of while horsing around with Dillon, tions and two wins), he directed (Matt Dillon) gets in the way of a lens issue and gave her time to Van Sant made it work. “There 1995’s To Die For, a black comedy her success, she convinces an prepare, ignoring the executives was this big debate about if they loosely based on the notorious impressionable teen (Joaquin who wanted to move on. “I put my should show my cast,” she says. case of a New Hampshire woman Phoenix) and his friends to mur- Walkman on and skated around, “Gus was like, ‘It’s real! She’s who had convinced her 15-year-old der him. Little known at the time, and I’m looking at producers an ice skater! She fell while ice student and lover to murder her Phoenix was identif ed in most pointing at their watches and with skating.’ Later on, we did a scene husband f ve years earlier. reviews as “brother to the late their heads in their hands, but where I fainted and we decided Adapted from Joyce Maynard’s and lamented River.” Gus was just unruf ed,” Douglas that’s where I broke my thumb.” book of the same name and with Illeana Douglas, who played tells THR. Van Sant, who studied Twenty years af er screening a screenplay from Buck Henry Dillon’s sister in the f lm, remem- painting at RISD in the 1970s, lef To Die For out of competition at (The Graduate), the f lm centered bers Van Sant as a director who such an impression on her that Cannes, Van Sant, 62, who won on Suzanne Stone Maretto, a was quiet, understated and conf - Douglas devoted an entire chapter the Palme d’Or for Elephant in fame-hungry small-town weather dent in his vision. Af er f lming an to him in her upcoming memoir, I 2003, returned with The Sea of girl. In the novel, Suzanne says emotionally exhausting scene at a Blame Dennis Hopper (out Nov. 3). Trees, which premiered May 17. she wants “that actress that just frozen lake, Van Sant told Douglas Af er Douglas broke her thumb — ELIZABETH ISENBERG LAURENT REBOURS / THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 36 AP PHOTO D8_cannes_endpg_vansant_B.indd 36 5/19/15 10:23 AM.