American Beauty
Short description
Lester Burnham is a suburban husband and father stuck in a life he no longer finds meaningful. Disrespected at work and drifting apart from his wife Carolyn and teenage daughter Jane, he sinks into apathy until he becomes infatuated with Angela, a friend of Jane's from school. That attraction jolts him into changing how he lives: he pushes back at home, rethinks his job, and starts pursuing what he wants. Around the same time, Jane grows close to Ricky, the neighboring boy who films everything around him and lives under the watch of his controlling father. The film follows both households as Lester's reinvention unsettles the people closest to him.
American Beauty was released in 1999 and runs 122 minutes. It was directed by Sam Mendes from a screenplay by Alan Ball, produced by Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks, and made by DreamWorks Pictures with Jinks/Cohen Company. Chronologically it is the second of the fifteen films Mendes has directed, following Cabaret and preceding Road to Perdition. Kevin Spacey plays Lester, with Annette Bening as Carolyn, Thora Birch as Jane, Wes Bentley as Ricky, Mena Suvari as Angela and Peter Gallagher as Buddy Kane. The credited cast numbers 48, alongside 147 credited crew.
On a budget of about 15 million dollars, the film took roughly 356 million dollars worldwide, a large multiple of its cost. On IMDb it holds 8.3 out of 10 from about 1.3 million votes, and on TMDB 8 out of 10 from more than 13,000 votes. A critics' rating of 8.7 out of 10 from 192 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The original title of the film contains a play on words: American Beauty refers to both 'American Beauty', a hybrid variety of red rose, and the concept of American beauty; this fact is repeatedly alluded to throughout the film and was also used in its advertising.
- The film's motto, “Look Closer,” appeared by chance when a sign on Lester’s desk with those words came into the director’s field of vision.
- The hand and stomach depicted on the film's poster actually belong not to Mena Suvari, but to actress and model Chloe Hunter.
- According to Alan Ball’s admission, the film owes its existence in many ways to a moment when the screenwriter was sitting in a square in front of the World Trade Center and watching a paper bag fly through the air – it was this scene that prompted him to sit down at his desk and start writing.
- The role of Angela Hayes was unsuccessfully offered to seventeen-year-old Kirsten Dunst.
- Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for the role of Ricky Fitz.
- When Terry Gilliam turned down directing the film, Dreamworks studio executive producer Steven Spielberg personally recommended Sam Mendes for the position.
- The school scenes were filmed at South High School in Torrance, California. The basketball team cheerleaders' dance number was directed by singer and choreographer Paula Abdul.
- During the marijuana-smoking scenes, Wes Bentley and Kevin Spacey smoked honey tobacco.
- The surname of Angela Hayes, played by Mena Suvari, is a reference to Hayes – the surname of Lolita, the main character of the novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov.
- The tapes with recordings of autotraining sessions that Caroline listens to in the car were narrated by the film’s screenwriter, Alan Ball.
- Despite the filmmakers' attempts to eliminate any hints of the setting, they failed. Jane's phone numbers in her address book begin with 312 (the Chicago area code), and the phone numbers on Caroline and Buddy's billboards start with 847 (the northern suburbs of Chicago). However, aerial shots were filmed over Sacramento, California. Originally, they planned to film a view of San Jose, but the local police prohibited the helicopter from descending below 100 meters, forcing them to abandon the idea.
- The amateur video recording of Ricky filming Jane looking in the mirror was personally made by Sam Mendes.
- According to the director's vision, as the plot progresses, Thora Birch's character uses less and less makeup, while her friend, played by Mena Suvari, uses more and more. This is intended to illustrate the evolution of their self-perception.
- At the time of filming, Torrey Birch was only 17 years old, so parental consent was required for her participation in the nude scene (they were present on set during the work on this scene).
- The throwing of the asparagus plate during the dinner scene was an improvisation by Kevin Spacey.
- The script called for Lester to have sex with Angela. However, it was decided that it would be better if he didn't go that far.
- The director's appearance in the film is in the scene where he opens the door with his own hand to the room where Lester's bloody corpse lies. Producer Bruce Cohen plays the role of the bartender angrily reprimanding Ricky Fitts in the backyard.
- The script originally called for the film to begin and end with scenes of Ricky and Jane’s trial, as well as details of their arrest. In addition, it described the story of Frank Fitts’s homosexual love for his army friend, who died during the Vietnam War.
- If Annette Bening received the role of Carolyn immediately, then in addition to Kevin Spacey, Chevy Chase, Jeff Daniels, and Tom Hanks also auditioned for the role of Lester (the latter played in Sam Mendes' next film, “Revolutionary Road”).
- Lester Burnham is an anagram of "Humbert learns."
- The film ends with a voiceover by Kevin Spacey against a black screen, exactly like an earlier film he starred in – “The Usual Suspects”. A small poster of this very film hangs in Lester's office cubicle.
- The Burnhams' home phone number is 555-0199. The same phone number is left by Al Pacino's character on Russell Crowe's answering machine in the script of that year’s film, “The Insider”. Finally, throughout the third season of “The X-Files”, Agent Fox Mulder possesses the same phone number.
- The end credits express gratitude to Dr. Bill and Alice. This is a reference to “Eyes Wide Shut”, in which Nicole Kidman, who played a role there, participated in Sam Mendes’ theatrical production, “The Blue Room”.
- Premiere magazine included the film in its list of "twenty most overrated films of all time".
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
