American Beauty (film)

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American Beauty
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sam Mendes
Produced by	Bruce Cohen Dan Jinks
Written by	Alan Ball
Starring	Kevin Spacey Annette Bening Thora Birch Wes Bentley Mena Suvari Chris Cooper Peter Gallagher Allison Janney
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Conrad L. Hall
Editing by	Tariq Anwar Christopher Greenbury
Studio	DreamWorks
Distributed by	DreamWorks (US) United Int'l Pictures (non-US)
Release date(s)	September 15, 1999 (limited) October 1, 1999 (wide)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Gross revenue	$356,296,601 (Worldwide)

American Beauty is a 1999 American comedy-drama film directed by Sam Mendes in his feature film debut. The film was written by Alan Ball and stars Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, and Thora Birch as a dysfunctional suburban family. The film cost $15 million to produce, and filming took place in California, though the suburb was depicted as one that could be placed anywhere in America. American Beauty was positively received by critics and audiences alike, and it grossed over $350 million worldwide. The film won the 1999 Academy Award for Best Picture and was nominated for and won numerous other awards and honors, mainly for direction, writing, and acting.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 2.1 Development 2.2 Casting 2.3 Filming 2.4 Cinematography 2.5 Music 3 Interpretations 4 Release 4.1 Publicity 4.2 Theatrical run 4.3 Home media 5 Critical reception 6 Awards and honors 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links

[edit] Plot

Lester Burnham (Spacey) is a 42-year-old writer who despises his superiors and feels his job has few prospects for advancement. His wife, Carolyn (Bening), is an ambitious real-estate broker; their 16-year-old daughter, Jane (Birch), abhors her parents, has low self-esteem and is saving money for a breast augmentation operation. The Burnhams' new neighbors are United States Marine Corps Colonel Frank Fitts (Cooper), his dissociative wife, Barbara (Janney), and their teenage son, Ricky (Bentley).

After watching a high school basketball game at which Jane is a cheerleader, Lester develops an infatuation with Jane's sexually precocious friend and classmate, Angela Hayes (Suvari). His fantasies entail a sexually aggressive Angela among red rose petals.

Frank controls Ricky with a strict disciplinarian lifestyle and gives him regular drug tests. Ricky, a smoker and drug dealer, makes deals with a client of his so he can have clean urine samples to get around these tests. Upon meeting a homosexual couple in the neighborhood, Frank reacts with disgust. Ricky frequently uses a hand-held video camera to record his surroundings and keeps hundreds of tapes in his bedroom.

Carolyn begins an affair with her business rival, Buddy Kane (Gallagher). Lester is about to be laid off when he blackmails his boss, quits his job and takes up low-pressure employment at a fast food chain. He trades in his car for a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, starts running, and lifts weights so he can "look good naked" to impress Angela, who he overheard telling Jane that she would find him sexy if he had more muscle. He takes up smoking marijuana, which he buys from Ricky. Lester continues to fantasize about Angela and flirts with her whenever she visits Jane, to the latter's disgust. Jane's friendship with Angela wanes and Jane begins a romantic relationship with Ricky; the two bond over his camcorder footage of what Ricky considers the most beautiful imagery he has filmed: a plastic bag that is being blown by the wind in front of a wall. Later that night, after a tense dinner and being slapped by her mother (who feels Jane is ungrateful for all she has), Jane reveals herself to Ricky through the window as he films her.

Lester accidentally discovers Carolyn's infidelity, but reacts indifferently. Buddy responds by breaking off the affair with the excuse that it could lead to a financially ruinous divorce for him. Frank becomes suspicious of Lester and Ricky's friendship and searches his son's room. He finds camcorder footage of Lester lifting weights in his garage while nude; Ricky had captured the footage by chance. After watching Ricky and Lester's drug rendezvous through the garage window, Frank mistakenly concludes that the two are engaged in a sexual relationship. That evening, Ricky returns home, where Frank beats him and accuses him of being a homosexual. Ricky falsely admits the charge and goads Frank into turning him out of their home. Ricky goes to Jane and asks her to flee with him to New York City. Angela protests and Ricky answers her vanity about her appearance by calling her ordinary.

Carolyn loads a gun and drives home. Frank confronts Lester in the garage and attempts to kiss him; Lester rebuffs the advance and Frank flees home. Moments later, Lester finds a distraught Angela; she asks him to confirm her beauty, and when Lester responds affirmatively, she begins to seduce him. After learning Angela is a virgin, Lester withdraws, and they bond instead over their shared personal frustrations. Angela tells Lester that Jane is in love; Lester answers Angela's question to his wellbeing by telling her he is happy. Angela goes to the bathroom and Lester smiles at a family photograph in the kitchen. A gunshot rings out and blood spatters on the kitchen wall in front of Lester as he is shot from behind. Ricky and Jane find him dead. Lester's final narration reflects on his life, and the actions of the other characters at the moment of his death are shown intermittently: Frank's returning home, bloodied, a gun missing from his collection, showing who the killer of Lester was; Carolyn's crying in their bedroom. Despite his death, Lester says he is happy, explaining that it is hard to be mad when there is so much beauty in the world.

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

In 1997, screenwriter Alan Ball signed with the United Talent Agency (UTA), with the intent of making the transition from writing for television to films. After frustrating experiences writing for the situation comedies Grace Under Fire and Cybill, Ball's UTA representative, Andrew Cannava, suggested that Ball write a spec script to "reintroduce [himself] to the town as a screenwriter". Ball had for a long time been preoccupied with the idea of writing a story based on the tragedy behind a "lurid tabloid murder case". Ball pitched three ideas to Cannava: two conventional romantic comedies, then American Beauty, based on the case. Cannava advised Ball to write American Beauty because he felt it was the one that Ball had the most passion for. While the film was in development, Ball continued to work in television, creating another situation comedy, Oh, Grow Up. His anger and frustration at having to accede to network demands on this and during his tenures on Grace Under Fire and Cybill informed his writing of American Beauty. Ball noted, "My experience with the television show is that I bent over backwards to address every single note that everyone gave me, and they seemed to end up not liking it ... My experience with the movie was that I just wrote something ... I wrote it from the heart, I didn't go through development, I didn't have a lot of network executives or studio executives giving me notes, and it became this thing that seemed to really work."^[1]

In April 1998, DreamWorks acquired rights to Ball's spec script in a mid-six figure purchase,^[2] outbidding Fox Searchlight Pictures, October Films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lakeshore Entertainment.^[3] Glenn Williamson, a DreamWorks executive, brought the project to the studio,^[2] and the rights were acquired with the instrumental assistance of Steven Spielberg in his capacity as studio partner. With Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen attached as producers, DreamWorks planned to make the film on a budget between $6 million to $8 million. The studio's pursuit of the script's "dark" subject matter was considered a move away from its preference for "less edgy fare".^[3] DreamWorks offered the film to directors Mike Nichols and Robert Zemeckis, but neither accepted the offer.^[4]

In the same year, theater director Sam Mendes revived the musical Cabaret with fellow director Rob Marshall. Mendes was represented by Beth Swofford at Creative Artists Agency at the time, and she invited him to Los Angeles to meet studio figures and to see if film direction was a possibility. When Mendes stayed in the spare room of Swofford's house during his Los Angeles visit, he came across American Beauty in a pile of eight scripts.^[5] Mendes, who was inspired early on by how the 1984 film Paris, Texas presented contemporary America as a mythic landscape,^[6] saw the same presentation in the script, entwined with his own childhood experiences:

...all those things I ... described about discovering how contemporary American could be mythic somehow met my own experiences, my own upbringing as an only child. There are two only children in the movie. There are two basically dysfunctional families. They live in suburbia. I lived on the outskirts of Oxford in the oddest house you can imagine. With very odd neighbors, exactly in the same way as the movie. So there were all these things in the movie that chimed with my own experiences.^[7]

During Mendes's visit to Los Angeles, he met with Steven Spielberg, who saw Cabaret and encouraged him to read the American Beauty script.^[4] Mendes attended a meeting with DreamWorks executives in which he pitched for the film, finding the support of producers Jinks and Cohen and screenwriter Ball.^[8] The studio offered Mendes the minimum salary under the Directors Guild of America, which was $150,000. Mendes accepted the salary, and he recalled later that after taxes and agent's commission, his actual earning was $38,000.^[9] In June 1998, DreamWorks announced to the public that it contracted Mendes to direct American Beauty in his feature film debut.^[10]

[edit] Casting

By September 1998, DreamWorks announced that it had entered negotiations with Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening to cast them in the film.^[11][12] Mendes had Spacey in mind for the role of Lester Burnham following the actor's performances in The Usual Suspects, Seven and Glengarry Glen Ross. Mendes said that "as far as I was concerned, he was a good actor and he was cool", and that he did not want a big star "weighing the film down". DreamWorks suggested Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner, or John Travolta for the role;^[13] Mendes said he cast Spacey because "he is capable of making the hair stand up on the back of your neck". Over the course of the film, Lester's physique improves from flabby to toned; because Mendes shot the scenes out of chronological order, Spacey alternated between postures to portray the different stages. Mendes said, "What's extraordinary for me is not only that he changed the way he stood and talked—and the way his eyes and skin and hair looked—but that he changed from the inside, too."^[14] DreamWorks suggested Kim Basinger, Geena Davis, Helen Hunt and Holly Hunter for the role of Carolyn Burnham, but Mendes had already met Bening and offered her the part without the studio's consent. While executives were upset at Mendes, the director was ultimately able to cast Bening.^[13] Bening recalled women from her youth to perform the role of the falling-apart housewife: "I used to babysit constantly. You'd go to church and see how people present themselves on the outside, and then be inside their house and see the difference." Bening and a hair stylist collaborated to create a "PTA president coif" hairstyle, and Mendes and production designer Naomi Shohan researched mail order catalogs to better establish Carolyn's environment of a "spotless suburban manor". Mendes also lent Bening the Bobby Darin version of the song "Don't Rain on My Parade", which she enjoyed and persuaded the director to include for a scene in which Carolyn sings in her car.^[15]

By November 1998, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, and Mena Suvari had been cast as Jane Burnham, Ricky Fitts and Angela Hayes, respectively. Bentley overcame competition from top actors under the age of 25 to be cast in the role.^[16] Peter Gallagher and Alison Janney were cast (as Buddy Kane and Barbara Fitts) after the start of filming in December 1998.^[17][18] Chris Cooper plays Colonel Frank Fitts. According to Cooper, much of Col. Fitts' backstory was eliminated from the final script, in which Fitts lost his male lover during the Vietnam War.^[19] Scott Bakula plays Jim Olmeyer, and Sam Robards plays Jim Berkley.

[edit] Filming

Principal photography took place between December 14, 1998,^[20] and February 1999.^[21] Mendes filmed American Beauty on soundstages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, and at interior and exterior locations in Hancock Park and Brentwood in Los Angeles, California. Aerial shots were captured in North California. The film is set in an upper middle class neighborhood in an unidentified American town. Production designer Naomi Shohan said the initial plan was to set the film in a "New Jersey-ish" neighborhood, before moving on to consider a "high-end" suburb outside Chicago. Shohan likened the locale to Evanston, Illinois, but said, "it's not about a place, it's about an archetype ... The milieu was pretty much Anywhere, USA—upwardly mobile suburbia." The production intended the setting to reflect the characters, who were also archetypes. Shohan said, "All of them are very strained, and their lives are constructs." The Burnhams' household is set up as a direct comparison to the Fitts'. The Burnhams' home is a pristine ideal, but is graceless and lacking in "inner balance", leading to Carolyn's aspiration to make it at least look like the "perfect all-American household"; the Fitts' home is depicted in "exaggerated darkness [and] symmetry".^[22] The production found it difficult to find buildings that were appropriate for the Burnhams' and Fitts' homes.^[23] They selected two adjacent properties on the backlot's "Blondie Street",^[22] one of which director of photography Conrad Hall had filmed for Divorce American Style (1967). The production rebuilt the houses, and Shohan built several false rooms, to accommodate the specific lines of sight that the film depicts between Ricky and Jane's bedroom windows, and those between Ricky's bedroom and Lester's garage.^[23] The production filmed the homes' interiors on the backlot, on location, and on soundstages when overhead shots were required.^[22] The location interiors for the Burnhams' home were shot at a house close to Interstate 405 and Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles; those for the Fitts' home were shot in the city's Hancock Park neighborhood.^[23] Ricky's bedroom was designed to evoke a cell to suggest his "monkish" personality, while at the same time blending with the high-tech equipment to reflect his voyeuristic side. The production deliberately minimized the use of red, as the use of the color was an important thematic signature elsewhere. The Burnhams' home uses cool blues, while the Fitts' was kept in a "depressed military palette". Lester's epiphany at the end of the film is expressed via rain and the use of red, building to a crescendo that is in deliberate contrast to the release Lester feels.^[22]

Ball's original screenplay had opening and ending scenes in which Col. Fitts frames Jane and Ricky for Lester's murder. They go to jail, but Col. Fitts' wife finds his bloody shirt. After shooting these scenes, Mendes removed many of them for the first cut, feeling that they made the film lose its mystery.^[24] Although Ball and Mendes initially disagreed, Ball accepted the new version after Mendes made further cuts to that part of the plot, which "worked on the page but not really on screen".^[25] In the DVD commentary, Mendes refers to deleted scenes for the viewer to find on the disc. However, these scenes are not on the DVD as he had changed his mind after recording the commentary.^[26]

Many of the school scenes were shot at South High School in Torrance, California, and most of the extras in the gym crowd were South High students. Sam Mendes designed the two girls' appearances to change over the course of the film, with Thora Birch gradually using less makeup and Suvari gradually using more, to emphasize their shifting perceptions of themselves. During the movie's second dinner scene, Spacey was only supposed to throw the plate of asparagus onto the floor. However, while shooting, Spacey improvised and pitched it at the wall, bringing about genuine reactions of shock to Bening and Birch's faces.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Cinematography

"I didn't fully understand [Mendes'] idea to begin with, but once the actors got hold of those wonderful words and started to react to one another, that's where the magic happened. That's where drama can occur, and that's where the palette for the visuals can become extraordinary. You can preconceive all sorts of ways to do a film—whether you should shoot quickly, shoot more traditionally, or any other technique—but to choose those ideas in advance is too hard. For me, [inspiration] comes from watching the actors rehearse with the director."

—Conrad Hall only felt able to identify with the characters during cast rehearsals, which gave him fresh ideas on his approach to the visuals.[23]

Conrad Hall was recommended to Mendes by Tom Cruise, due to the cinematographer's work on Without Limits (1998), which Cruise had executive produced; Mendes was directing Cruise's then-wife Nicole Kidman in the theater production The Blue Room during American Beauty's gestation. Hall was involved for one month during pre-production;^[23] his ideas for lighting the film began early, with his first reading of the script, and further passes allowed him to refine his intended approach before he first met with Mendes. Hall felt that Mendes had a strong sense of the film's visual direction from the start; in that meeting, Mendes showed Hall storyboards of the film's opening shot. The director's visual sense surprised Hall, whose experience was that first-time directors were not strong in this area.^[27] Hall was initially concerned that audiences would not like the characters, to which Mendes replied that to be able to identify with them he had to look at the "dark areas" within himself. Only during cast rehearsals did Hall feel able to properly conceive the film's look,^[23] as he finds it difficult to fully visualize scenes ahead of time;^[27] the drama of the script was given life in these rehearsals,^[23] allowing Hall to express his inner feelings through the visuals.^[27] He said, "That's where drama can occur, and that's where the palette for the visuals can become extraordinary."^[23]

Hall described the film's look as "quiet and simple", with "a certain sense of peace, compositionally", evoking classicism. He believed this approach contrasted with the turbulent events depicted, allowing audiences to better take in the action. Hall said that he and Mendes would first discuss the intended mood of a particular scene, but that he was subsequently able to light the shot in any way he felt necessary.^[27] In most cases, Hall first lit the scene's subject by "painting in" the blacks and whites, before adding the fill light, which he reflected from beadboard or white card on the ceiling This gave Hall better control over the placement of the shadows, while keeping the fill light unobtrusive and the dark areas free of spill.^[28] Hall shot American Beauty in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the Super 35 format, using Kodak Vision 500T 5279 35mm film stock. He shot the whole film at the same T-stop (T1.9);^[29] given his preference for shooting that wide, Hall favors high-speed film stocks to allow more subtlety in the lighting effects.^[28] He used Panavision Platinum cameras with the company's Primo series of prime lenses and zoom lenses. Hall employed Kodak Vision 500T 5274, and EXR 5248 stock for some scenes that required daylight effects. He had difficulty adjusting to the Vision series of stocks, which he said provided too much contrast. Hall eventually contacted Kodak, who sent him a batch of 5279 that was 5% lower on contrasts. Hall used a 1/8" Tiffen Black ProMist filter for almost every scene, which he said in retrospect may not have been the best choice, as the optical steps required to blow Super 35 up for its anamorphic release print led to a slight amount of degradation; therefore, the diffusion provided by the filter was not required. Hall felt upon seeing the film in a theater that the image was slightly unclear, and that had he not used the filter, the diffusion effect provided by the Super 35–anamorphic conversion would have resulted in an on-screen image closer to how he intended it to look.^[29]

Hall said that one of the most difficult scenes to light was the scene at the beginning of the film that depicts Jane and Ricky in the latter's bedroom. The shot begins with a hand-held camera video image that pans around the room; the confined space made it difficult for Hall to place lighting equipment out-of-shot. He used three lights: a Kino Flo was hidden in a shelf and used as the backlight on Ricky, as a sidelight, and a downlight onto the bookshelf; a low power light that was aimed at a piece of beadboard behind the bed; and the fill light. The most difficult aspect was ensuring the television set did not reflect any of the light sources. The later shot that depicts Lester and Ricky behind a building sharing a cannabis joint was a result of a misunderstanding between Hall and Mendes. Mendes had asked Hall to set the shot up in his absence; Hall assumed the characters would look for an area of privacy and set the scene up accordingly, with Lester and Ricky in a narrow passageway between a truck and the building. When Mendes returned, he indicated that the point of the scene was that the characters were smoking the joint in the open, that they did not care if they were seen. The truck was removed and Hall had to rethink his lighting scheme, as he had intended to use the top of the truck. He lit it from the left, with a large light that crossed the actors, and with a softer light from behind the camera. Hall felt felt the consequent wide shot "worked perfectly for the tone of the scene".^[29]

The scene toward the end of the film where Lester encounters Angela in his living room begins with a shot of Lester in silhouette against the doorway, with the light only on his face. Hall wanted to make the light imperceptible enough that it would not spill into the dark areas around Lester, so he used a low power light in place of a fill light, a diffusion glass across the barn doors, and flags to prevent spill. Hall attempted to keep the bouquet of roses in-frame throughout, but instead of keeping them well lit, he aimed low-power, narrow-focus lights at the back edges of the flowers to keep them dark while suggesting a red tinge.^[27] Hall lit the edges of other objects to provide definition, and a rain effect on the foreground cross light through the windows for consistency—rain, or the suggestion of it, features in every shot in the last part of the film. Lester approaches Angela and the shot switches to a wide silhouette of the pair against the French windows. Lester and Angela are lit from one light above, and from several through the doors. Hall added material to the windows to make the rain run a little slower, intensifying the light; he said the strength of the outside light was unrealistic for a night scene, but that his liking for strong contrasts made it acceptable. Hall added the fill light and lit the roses to finally show them in full. The result was an image of low color saturation—almost bordering on black-and-white—with a hint of red from the roses.^[28] Hall said he did not like to create depth through contrasting colors, but via a color's saturation. He said, "I don't like the separation in an image to be due to the fact that a couch is gray and the walls are orange. Instead, I do it by treating the colors as values of gray and then lighting for depth."^[30]

Lester and Angela move to the couch. For each close-up, Hall attempted to keep rain in the shot. He lit the scene through the window onto the ceiling behind Lester. Hall said the ceiling light was the most important component of the shot: at 12–32 fc, it allowed Hall to shape the darkness and provide the contrast necessary to keep these areas black. Lester has only a low-power edge light on him to suggest a stray piece of light rather than full illumination, which Hall said would have created a different mood.^[28] Hall kept the subsequent wider shot simple, with a structured framing from the light on Angela's back and the light on the couch. Hall described the looser framing as intending to give "peace and comfort", allowing the viewer room to breathe. He placed the fill light behind Lester and Angela; this prevented spill onto their faces, but was of an intensity that allowed Hall to light the couch without also lighting the back wall, which he preferred to keep dark with the couch's silhouette. Hall used rain boxes throughout the scene, which he could light through to produce a rain pattern where he wanted, without lighting the entire room.^[30]

[edit] Music

Thomas Newman composed the score for American Beauty. The score was "an unusual collection of moods and colors created largely by percussion instruments" for which inspiration came from director Sam Mendes. Newman recalled, "Sam wanted things that hammered and thwacked a bit. He was interested in percussion and mallet instruments, so I started working on various ideas that involved xylophones and marimbas." Percussion instruments included tablas, bongos, and cymbals. Other instruments included guitars, piano, flute, and world music instruments. Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the "moral ambiguity" of Alan Ball's script: "It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that ambiguity."^[31]

The soundtrack features songs by artists such as Bobby Darin, The Who, Free, Eels, The Guess Who, The Folk Implosion, Gomez, and Bob Dylan, as well as a cover version of The Beatles "Because" performed by Elliott Smith. The film also features the Neil Young song "Don't Let It Bring You Down" performed by Annie Lennox, though this was not included on the soundtrack. KCRW DJ Chris Douridas served as the film's music supervisor. The resulting album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The Original Motion Picture Score was later released on January 11, 2000. This contains 19 tracks composed by Thomas Newman for the film.

[edit] Interpretations

American Beauty argues the case against conventionality at the same time as expressing the human need for it. It reveals the repression of those who outwardly yearn to fit in, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual.^[32] In this, the film expresses "the death of the nuclear family". Its "art house" appeal allows it to speak to middle class audiences, to whom it instructs a rejection of material attachments. Lester discards the responsibilities and trappings of the comfortable life that he despises after experiencing a sexual awakening via his encounters with Angela. Though it ultimately leads to his death, Lester is first redeemed through the awakening knowledge of his own repression and middle class angst. The film presents the idea that only the wealthy—and those clever enough to style their actions as a sympathetic rebellion—have the freedom to be able to experience the luxury of successfully eschewing material trappings to find an inner self; it overtly attempts to convince its audience into a similar rebellion against their own repression, as its critique of conformity can only be properly understood through pre-existing bourgeoisie criticism of middle class communities.^[33]

"American Beauty affirms taboos against incest,^[34] while drawing comparison with those against homosexuality, a recurrent theme in Ball's work.^[35] Rather than making a distinction between these taboo desires, American Beauty focuses on the violent repercussions of their denial.^[36] The film implies twin incestuous desires:^[32] Lester's pursuit of Angela is a manifestation of his longing for his own daughter,^[37] and Colonel Fitts' repressed homosexuality—a result of his masculinity and previous military homosociality—manifests in the severe, sexualized discipline with which he controls Ricky; "longing looks" accompany Fitts' attack upon his son.^[32] Fitts is a representation of Ball's father,^[38] whose unfulfilled homo-erotic desires led to his own unhappiness.^[39] Ball rewrote the character several times, each time delaying the revelation of his homosexuality, which feminist author and academic Sally R. Munt says is a possible expression of Ball's deferment of his own incest fantasies.^[36] Fitts' unconventional behavior is presented humorously, but this is eventually replaced by a depiction of the "erotic, tender, yet murderous violence" within him. As a critique of "narcissistic conformity", the film presents a desire even its gay characters to fit in.^[32] Jim and Jim, the Burnhams' neighbors, are a satire of "gay bourgeois coupledom". In effect, they are "the same";^[40] presented as happily investing in the conformity that the film criticizes in heterosexual relationships, of which they are no less guilty in their own.^[41] Depicted humorously, Jim and Jim are clones that replicate suburban respectability. Despite their desire for conventionality, they are clearly "glad to be gay", a contradiction that may seem strange to heterosexual audiences.^[32]

The DVD edition provides new avenues of interpretation for viewers of the film;^[42] the surface enhancements of DVD editions—promotional and marketing material, improved technical facets—offer but one type of reconstruction. Others come through extensive commentaries from writers and directors.^[43] Though they might not necessarily be the most reliable analyzer of their own work,^[44] self-conscious filmmakers can offer a reorientation that in effect offers viewers a "new edition" of the film;^[43] the commentary can also highlight the limitations of holding authorial intent paramount over other interpretations.^[44] American Beauty's commentary provides a clear disconnect between intent and chance.^[45] Throughout, Mendes and Hall attempt to offer insight into their intent with particular scenes, but often Hall will contradict Mendes' praise of his work; what Mendes sees as thematic choices, Hall explains as accidental based on practical lighting considerations or simple pleasing imagery. One example is a scene in which Hall shot Spacey in a way that Mendes believed intentionally diminished Lester; Mendes says, "Conrad's added something so beautiful to the shot ... the way the light hits Lester ... it pulls him down away from the wall ... [Hall has] also done something very crucial, [cutting] his feet off at the bottom of the frame." Mendes believed the shot "effectively diminishes Lester both by cropping him and pushing him down the frame, making him even less authoritative in the face of Brad, the consultant, who is consistently shot from below." Hall corrects Mendes by saying that the shot was constructed without such an intent, and that it came about merely because he wanted the ceiling lamp in the frame; the independent intents of the filmmakers do not converge, yet their applications collide.^[45]

Cinema as a visual medium has two facets: the straightforward use of images to present actions to the audience, and the way in which it presents the observation of these actions. One example of the latter is the "point of view" shot, in which objects are shown from the character's perspective.^[46] This use of "seeing" promotes it from an act that is almost invisible to an action evocative enough to be eligible for the same characterization through sound and music as the depiction of screen activity.^[47] American Beauty goes further than scoring a perception of space to apply this "musically encoded visual syntax" to the depiction of time. One example is the gymnasium scene, in which Lester first encounters Angela. As the cheerleaders perform the half-time dance routine, "sexual desire, sight, and music" converge to depict Lester's growing fixation on Angela, portrayed through a slowing down of external narrative time that represents his "voyeuristic hypnosis"; surrounding objects and people fade until Lester imagines Angela's performing alone—for him—on the gymnasium floor.^[48] Simultaneously, the music becomes similarly discordant, replacing the pep band's performance of "On Broadway"—which provides a traditional narrative underscore—with a nondiegetic percussive composition that lacks melody or progression; not only does this reflect the narrative stasis, it is a fundamental component of its creation and continuance.^[49] The effect is evocative of a musical temporality that Jonathan Kramer calls "vertical time", music that imparts "a single present stretched out into an enormous duration, a potentially infinite 'now' that nonetheless feels like an instant". Akin to looking at a sculpture, vertical time represents independent observation—its pacing and scope determined by the observer—that allows the witness time to see nothing less than they require. In American Beauty's gymnasium scene, focused aural sensations match and are more reminiscent of visual perceptions. In this way, both Lester and the score stare at Angela. The sequence—and the narrative stasis—ends with the sudden reintroduction of "On Broadway" and teleological time.^[50]

[edit] Release

[edit] Publicity

DreamWorks contracted the website Amazon.com to create the official website for American Beauty, which marked the first time that the commercial website created a special section devoted to a feature film. The film website included an overview, a photo gallery, cast and crew's filmographies, and exclusive interviews with actors Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening.^[51]

[edit] Theatrical run

American Beauty's world premiere was held on September 8, 1999 at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California.^[52] The film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 1999.^[53] It was also screened at several American universities, including University of California at Berkeley, New York University, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Texas at Austin, and Northwestern University. The screenings, at which filmmakers and the cast appeared, were intended to help "to bridge the gap between generations" explored by the film.^[54]

American Beauty premiered to the public in a limited release on Wednesday, September 15, 1999. The film screened in three theaters in Los Angeles and three theaters in New York on its first day, grossing $72,768 for the day. On Friday, September 17, the film also screened at 10 additional theaters in Toronto, Boston, and San Francisco,^[55] grossing $861,531 on its opening weekend.^[56] On the following weekend of September 24, DreamWorks expanded the number of theaters from 16 to 429, and American Beauty grossed $5,939,646 in its wider release that weekend.^[57] On October 1, DreamWorks distributed the film to 277 more theaters across the United States and Canada for a total of 706 theaters, crossing the 600-theater threshold into wide release.^[58] The film grossed $8,188,587 over its first weekend of the wide release, ranking third at the box office.^[56] Following American Beauty's wins at the 57th Golden Globe Awards, DreamWorks re-expanded the film's presence at theaters from its low of 7 theaters in mid-February,^[59] reaching a peak of 1,990 theaters.^[56] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave American Beauty a "B+" grade.^[60] In the film's theatrical run in the United States and Canada, which lasted from September 15, 1999 to June 4, 2000, it grossed $130,096,601.^[56]

The film's European premiere took place at the London Film Festival on November 18, 1999.^[61] In January 2000, it was screened at various territories outside the United States and Canada.^[62] On January 14, it debuted in Israel at nine theaters, grossing a "potent" $100,000 in four days for an average of $11,000 per screen.^[63] On January 21, American Beauty debuted on limited screens in six European markets: Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, and Finland. In the course of four days, the film grossed $791,000 in 45 theaters in Germany, $853,000 in 62 theaters in Italy, and $652,000 in the rest of the European markets.^[64] In the film's two weeks in Israel, an expansion to 25 screens led to a "terrif" $560,000.^[65] Following the weekend of January 28, American Beauty had grossed $3.3 million in Italy, $2.9 million in Germany, $579,000 in Austria, and $468,000 in Holland. The film also premiered in Australia with $1.8 million from 108 theaters, in the United Kingdom with $695,000 from 23 theaters, in Spain with $291,000 from 26 theaters, and in Norway with $214,000 from 15 theaters. American Beauty's overseas performance for the second weekend was overall $7 million in 12 countries for an accumulated total of $12.1 million.^[66]

On the weekend of February 4, American Beauty debuted in France with $1.6 million from 256 theaters and in Belgium with $562,095 from 40 theaters. In the United Kingdom, it continued to rank first at the box office with $1.7 million from 303 theaters, defeating its competition, House on Haunted Hill.^[67] On February 11, the film ranked third in its fourth weekend in Germany, grossing $2,072,635 from 257 screens. It also grossed $719,060 in its second weekend in Belgium.^[68] On February 18, following the announcement of American Beauty's eight nominations for the 72nd Academy Awards, the film grossed $11.7 million from 21 territories for $65.4 million to date for territories outside the United States and Canada. Weekend performances included $316,000 from 26 theaters in Germany, $256,000 from 31 theaters in Turkey. The film had "dazzling" debuts in the territories Hungary, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and New Zealand. As of that weekend, the following territories were the most successful for the studio: $15.2 million in the United Kingdom, $10.8 million in Italy, $10.5 million in Germany, $6 million in Australia, and $5.3 million in France.^[69] On February 25, strong performances continued in the light of the Academy Award news.^[70] The total increased from $65.4 million to $82.8 million following a weekend gross of $10.9 million in 27 countries. The film had strong debuts in Brazil with $828,000 at 135 theaters, in Mexico with $387,000 at 91 theaters, and in South Korea with $404,000 at 38 theaters.^[71] Other highlights included $640,000 in six days from 50 theaters in Argentina, $291,000 at 26 theaters in Greece, and $340,000 at 31 theaters in Turkey.^[70]

On the weekend of March 3, 2000, American Beauty debuted in three Asian markets that were normally "not receptive to this kind of upscale fare". The film grossed $272,000 at 14 theaters in Hong Kong in four days, $245,000 at 48 theaters in Taiwan in two days, and $165,000 at 13 theaters in Singapore. It also continued a strong performance in South Korea with $1.2 million after nine days.^[72] After the weekend of March 10, the film crossed the $100 million milestone with $12.6 million from 23 territories outside the United States and Canada. Highlights included $1.3 million in 12 days in South Korea and $13.3 million in seven weeks in Italy.^[73]

[edit] Home media

American Beauty was released on VHS on May 9, 2000 and on DVD on October 24, 2000.^[74][75] Before the film's North American rental release on May 9,^[76] Blockbuster Video wanted to purchase hundreds of thousands of extra copies of the title to enter it into its "guaranteed title" range, whereby any customer that wanted to rent to film would be guaranteed a copy. Blockbuster and DreamWorks failed to come to an agreement on the sharing of profits from the scheme; the rental chain wanted a similar deal to the one it had with Universal Pictures—DreamWorks' distributor. As a result, Blockbuster ordered two thirds the number of copies it originally intended.^[77] DreamWorks made around one million copies available to rental stores; Blockbuster's demand would usually account for about 400,000 of these. In some urban stores, the rental chain only displayed 60 copies of the film;^[78] in areas of lower demand, Blockbuster instructed some of its store managers to remove the film from its shelves to force customers to ask for it.^[77][78] The instruction also required Blockbuster staff to read a statement to customers explaining the situation. Blockbuster claimed that the strategy was intended only to "monitor customer demand" for the title due to its reduced availability.^[77]

Blockbuster's intended strategy leaked before American Beauty's rental release, leading to a 30% increase in orders from independent retailers—including some Blockbuster outlets owned by franchisees—and Blockbuster's closest rival, Hollywood Video. Commenters speculated that Universal or DreamWorks was the source of the leak.^[76][77] DreamWorks did not have profit-sharing deals with the independent retailers, meaning that it made much of its money on rental copies of American Beauty up front. DreamWorks had a profit-sharing deal with Hollywood Video, but copies of the film were rented in high enough quantities that both companies benefited. In its first week of release in the rental market, American Beauty made $6.8 million. This return was lower than would otherwise have been expected had DreamWorks and Blockbuster reached an agreement; the same year's The Sixth Sense made $22 million, while Fight Club made $8.1 million, even though the latter's domestic theatrical performance was just 29% that of American Beauty. Blockbuster's strategy also affected rental fees for the title; American Beauty averaged a $3.12 fee, compared with the average $3.40 fee for films that Blockbuster promoted in full that year. Only 53% of the film's rentals were from large outlets in the first week, compared with the usual 65%. ^[77]

[edit] Critical reception

American Beauty was one of the most positively received films of 1999. The trade paper Variety reported, "No other 1999 movie has benefited from such universal raves."^[79] Its world premiere in Los Angeles received a "phenomenal response" from the audience,^[52] and it was the best-received title at the Toronto International Film Festival, being praised by film critics and members of the film industry.^[53] Through a ballot of the film festival's audiences, American Beauty won the People's Choice Award.^[80] The festival's director Piers Handling said of the film's reception, "American Beauty was the buzz of the festival, the film most talked about."^[81]

Three months before the film's opening, New York Times reviewer Bernard Weinraub described it as "the most talked about film of the moment." His column, which ran on the weekend of July 4, gave few specifics regarding the film but noted that it was generating "tremendous buzz" in the DreamWorks studio, as the details of how and when the movie would be released were debated; it also reported that Steven Spielberg (a co-founder of DreamWorks) called the film one of the best he had seen in years and that Bening was moved to tears when she first saw the whole film put together at an early screening.^[82][83]

Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthman called it "a dazzling tale of loneliness, desire and the hollowness of conformity". Jay Carr for the Boston Globe called the film "a millennial classic"; the New York Post called it "a flat-out masterpiece". Among the smaller number of critics who expressed negative opinions of the film were J. Hoberman of the Village Voice and Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Examiner, both of whom were critical of the film's script and direction, if not its performances.^[84] Kevin Jackson of Sight & Sound said that through effortless and "brilliant" execution, the film transcended its clichéd structure and setup to become a "wonderfully resourceful and sombre comedy". He said that even when the film played for blatant situation comedy laughs, it infused these scenes with "unexpected nuance". Jackson praised Spacey's performance; he said that although the actor had already amply demonstrated his ability, American Beauty gave Spacey chance to impress in different ways, the most satisfying aspect of the performance being his ability to portray a man who is "both sap and hero". Jackson stated that Mendes only occasionally betrayed his roots as a theater director; Jackson believed the "most remarkable" aspect to be that the strength of Spacey's performance did not overshadow the rest of the film, as Mendes managed to stage Ball's "intricate" script smoothly, and to the ensemble's strengths, "deftly serving every change of tone from goofy knockabout to beady observation."^[85] Filmmaker Robert Altman and long-time New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael both hated the film.^[86][87]

The generally positive critical reception of the film led to DreamWorks arranging a first look deal with American Beauty's producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen.^[88] Sam Mendes was also coveted by various studios following the film's success. Drawing on his newfound influence, Mendes began developing a script with Scott Frank for what later became the 2007 film The Lookout, meeting with potential cast members like Leonardo DiCaprio.^[62]

Scenes from the Los Angeles and Toronto premieres, as well as other unique footage related to American Beauty, are featured in the 2008 documentary My Big Break, directed by Tony Zierra, which follows Wes Bentley before and after he landed his breakout role as Ricky Fitts.

[edit] Awards and honors

In addition to awards and honors for the film, DreamWorks was also recognized by the Publicists Guild of America for the best publicity campaign in film with American Beauty.^[89]

Award	Category	Name	Outcome
72nd Academy Awards	Best Picture	Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks	Won
	Best Actor	Kevin Spacey	Won
	Best Director	Sam Mendes	Won
	Best Original Screenplay	Alan Ball	Won
	Best Cinematography	Conrad Hall	Won
	Best Actress	Annette Bening	Nominated
	Original Music Score	Thomas Newman	Nominated
	Film Editing	Tariq Anwar	Nominated
American Cinema Editors	Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic	Tariq Anwar, Christopher Greenbury	Nominated
American Comedy Awards	Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)	Annette Bening	Won
	Funniest Motion Picture		Nominated
	Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)	Kevin Spacey	Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases	Conrad Hall	Won
Art Directors Guild	Excellence in Production Design Award for Feature Film	Naomi Shohan, David Lazan, Catherine Smith	Nominated
Australian Film Institute	Best Foreign Film	Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks	Won
Awards of the Japanese Academy	Best Foreign Film		Nominated
53rd British Academy Film Awards	Best Film	Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks	Won
	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Kevin Spacey	Won
	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Annette Bening	Won
	Best Editing	Tariq Anwar, Christopher Greenbury	Won
	Best Cinematography	Conrad Hall	Won
	Anthony Asquith Award	Thomas Newman	Won
	David Lean Award	Sam Mendes	Nominated
	Best Screenplay – Original	Alan Ball	Nominated
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role	Wes Bentley	Nominated
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role	Thora Birch	Nominated
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role	Mena Suvari	Nominated
	Best Sound	Scott Martin Gershin, Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Richard Van Dyke	Nominated
	Best Production Design	Naomi Shohan	Nominated
	Best Make Up/Hair	Tania McComas, Carol A. O'Connell	Nominated
BMI Film & TV Awards	BMI Film Music	Thomas Newman	Won
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Actress – Drama	Anette Bening	Nominated
	Favorite Supporting Actor – Drama	Wes Bentley	Nominated
	Favorite Supporting Actress – Drama	Thora Birch	Nominated
	Favorite Actor – Drama	Kevin Spacey	Nominated
	Favorite Actress – Newcomer (Internet Only)	Mena Suvari	Nominated
BRIT Awards	Best Soundtrack		Nominated
Bodil Awards	Best American Film	Sam Mendes	Won
British Society of Cinematographers	Best Cinematography	Conrad Hall	Won
Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Sam Mendes	Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actor	Kevin Spacey	Won
	Best Director	Sam Mendes	Won
	Best Picture	Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks	Won
	Most Promising Actor	Wes Bentley	Won
	Best Actress	Annette Bening	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Conrad L. Hall	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Alan Ball	Nominated
Cinema Audio Society	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature Film	Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Richard Van Dyke	Nominated
National Board of Review	Best Picture		Won
	Breakthrough Performance – Male	Wes Bentley	Won
Screen Actors Guild Award	Best Actor	Kevin Spacey	Won
	Best Actress	Annette Bening	Won
	Best Ensemble	Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, Allison Janney, Peter Gallagher	Won
57th Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture - Drama	Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, Stanley J. Wlodkowski, Alan Ball	Won
	Best Director	Sam Mendes	Won
	Best Screenplay	Alan Ball	Won
	Best Actress – Drama	Annette Bening	Nominated
	Best Actor – Drama	Kevin Spacey	Nominated
	Best Original Score	Thomas Newman	Nominated

[edit] See also

Similar films:^[90]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: American Beauty

• Official website
• American Beauty at the Internet Movie Database
• American Beauty at Allmovie
• American Beauty at Rotten Tomatoes
• American Beauty at Metacritic
• American Beauty at Box Office Mojo
• Journal of Religion and Film: American Beauty and the Idea of Freedom

Preceded by Three Kings	Box office number-one films of 2000 (AUS) January 30 - February 6	Succeeded by The Green Mile
Preceded by Double Jeopardy	Box office number-one films of 2000 (UK) February 6	Succeeded by Toy Story 2
Awards
Preceded by Shakespeare in Love	Academy Award for Best Picture 1999	Succeeded by Gladiator
	BAFTA Award for Best Film 1999
Preceded by Saving Private Ryan	Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama 1999

v • d • e Films directed by Sam Mendes American Beauty (1999) · Road to Perdition (2002) · Jarhead (2005) · Revolutionary Road (2008) · Away We Go (2009)

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Picture Chariots of Fire (1981) · Gandhi (1982) · Terms of Endearment (1983) · Amadeus (1984) · Out of Africa (1985) · Platoon (1986) · The Last Emperor (1987) · Rain Man (1988) · Driving Miss Daisy (1989) · Dances with Wolves (1990) · The Silence of the Lambs (1991) · Unforgiven (1992) · Schindler's List (1993) · Forrest Gump (1994) · Braveheart (1995) · The English Patient (1996) · Titanic (1997) · Shakespeare in Love (1998) · American Beauty (1999) · Gladiator (2000) Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama On Golden Pond (1981) · E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · Terms of Endearment (1983) · Amadeus (1984) · Out of Africa (1985) · Platoon (1986) · The Last Emperor (1987) · Rain Man (1988) · Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · Dances with Wolves (1990) · Bugsy (1991) · Scent of a Woman (1992) · Schindler's List (1993) · Forrest Gump (1994) · Sense and Sensibility (1995) · The English Patient (1996) · Titanic (1997) · Saving Private Ryan (1998) · American Beauty (1999) · Gladiator (2000) Complete List · (1951–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)