62 Fun Facts About American Beauty

In what year was American Beauty released?

1999 was the release year: the film opened in limited release on September 15, went wide in October, and won Best Picture the following March.

Who plays Lester Burnham?

Kevin Spacey was the director's first choice; the studio floated the other three names, but he did not want a big star weighing the film down.

Who plays Carolyn Burnham, Lester's status-obsessed wife?

Annette Bening was offered the part by the director without the studio's consent, after executives had pushed bigger names; the role brought her a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Which theater director made his feature-film debut with American Beauty?

Sam Mendes came from London's Donmar Warehouse theatre; American Beauty was his first film, and it won him the Best Director Oscar.

Who wrote the screenplay?

Alan Ball wrote it while working as a frustrated sitcom writer; he went on to create Six Feet Under and True Blood for HBO.

Who plays Angela, the cheerleader Lester becomes infatuated with?

Mena Suvari, who also appeared in American Pie that same year, played cheerleader Angela Hayes, the object of Lester's fantasies.

Who plays Jane Burnham?

Thora Birch was 16 during filming, so her parents and child-labor representatives had to approve her brief nude scene.

Who plays Ricky Fitts, the camcorder-carrying neighbor?

Wes Bentley played Ricky Fitts in his breakout role; the director handed him a video camera before shooting and told him to film whatever Ricky would.

Who plays Colonel Fitts, the retired Marine next door?

Chris Cooper played the colonel, an ex-Marine whose repressed rage drives the film's ending; Cooper later won an Oscar for Adaptation.

What dream car does Lester buy?

A 1970 Pontiac Firebird, 'the car I've always wanted', is what Lester buys; the argument over it turns into the one moment he nearly seduces Carolyn.

What recurring image fills Lester's fantasies about Angela?

Red rose petals fill every fantasy Lester has about Angela, from the bedroom ceiling to the bath; the American Beauty is itself a rose variety, the film's namesake.

What does Ricky call the most beautiful thing he has ever filmed?

A plastic bag blowing in the wind, filmed against a brick wall with dead leaves, is the footage Ricky shows Jane, drawing on a moment the writer once witnessed himself.

How does Ricky pay for his video equipment?

Dealing marijuana pays for Ricky's gear; his catering job is only a front, which is why his father misreads the garage scene so badly.

What job does Lester take after quitting his advertising career?

Fry cook at a fast-food restaurant is the job he picks, at Mr. Smiley's, insisting on the least responsibility possible; it is at the drive-through window that he catches Carolyn with her lover.

Carolyn has an affair with a rival in which profession?

Real estate is Carolyn's own trade, and rival agent Buddy Kane, the self-styled 'King', ends the affair the moment he starts worrying about the cost of a divorce.

Who plays Buddy Kane?

Peter Gallagher played Buddy Kane, the self-styled 'King' with whom Carolyn has her affair; Gallagher was also known for sex, lies, and videotape and later The O.C.

Who plays Barbara Fitts, Ricky's near-silent mother?

Allison Janney played Barbara Fitts, the colonel's near-catatonic wife; Janney, then best known for stage work, began The West Wing the same year.

Who is implied to have shot Lester?

Frank Fitts is the implied killer: after Lester rebuffs his kiss, the colonel is seen returning home blood-soaked and missing a gun from his collection.

What was the film's two-word tagline?

Look closer is the tagline; it came from a clipping a set dresser had pinned inside Lester's cubicle, and the phrase is visible on screen in the film.

Which studio made and released American Beauty?

DreamWorks outbid several studios for the script in 1998 and bought it outright rather than optioning it; the film became the young studio's first Best Picture winner.

How many Academy Awards did American Beauty win?

5 Oscars went to it at the March 2000 ceremony: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Original Screenplay and Cinematography.

Who won the Best Cinematography Oscar for the film?

Conrad L. Hall won his second Oscar for the film, thirty years after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, favoring static, carefully composed frames.

Who composed the percussion-heavy score?

Thomas Newman wrote the marimba-and-percussion score; it earned him an Oscar nomination, and the score album won a Grammy.

Which rock classic does Lester belt out while driving after quitting his job?

American Woman, The Guess Who's chart-topper, is what Lester sings along to in the car after quitting his job, newly stoned and defiant.

Roughly what did American Beauty cost to make?

$15 million was the budget, modest for a studio release; the film earned back more than twenty times that worldwide.

Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?

$356 million worldwide made it the ninth-highest-grossing film of its year, with most of the total coming from outside North America.

Before the film, the screenwriter had spent frustrating years writing for which two sitcoms?

Grace Under Fire and Cybill were the sitcoms where the writer spent the mid-1990s; he channeled his anger at the network notes on those shows into the script.

The media circus around which 1992 trial helped inspire the story?

Amy Fisher's 1992 case drew the media circus; a comic book about the scandal convinced the writer there was a sadder, truer story underneath the tabloid one.

In what form did the writer first attempt the story in the early 1990s?

A stage play was the first attempt, in the early 1990s; the writer got about 40 pages in before deciding the material was too visual for the stage.

Where did the writer watch a floating bag for ten minutes, the encounter behind Ricky's favorite footage?

Outside the World Trade Center, in its plaza, the writer watched the bag for about ten minutes and described the moment as provoking an 'unexpected emotional response'.

Which stage musical had the director just revived in New York, impressing Steven Spielberg?

Cabaret's 1998 Broadway revival, co-directed with Rob Marshall, had impressed Spielberg; Marshall later directed the film of Chicago.

The director was paid the Directors Guild minimum to make the film. How much was that?

After tax and his agent's cut he said he cleared about $38,000.

How much did the studio pay to buy the script outright in April 1998?

$250,000 bought the script outright rather than as an option, which was unusual; the writer had assumed it would only serve as a calling card.

Kirsten Dunst, who turned down the role of Angela, starred in which film that same year?

The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola's debut, cast Dunst as Lux Lisbon; she had declined Angela over the part's sexual content.

Director and star studied which actor's performance in The Apartment (1960) as a model for Lester?

Jack Lemmon's C.C. Baxter in The Apartment was the model: director and star wanted the way he moved in that office, an ordinary man who was nonetheless special.

Lester's narration from beyond the grave is a throwback to which 1950 film?

Sunset Boulevard, narrated by William Holden's dead screenwriter, was the model; the director felt the device captured the loneliness of both Lester and the film.

Which star recommended the film's eventual cinematographer to the director?

Tom Cruise had executive-produced Without Limits and admired the veteran's work on it; the director had assumed the man was too old and experienced to want the job.

Which song does Carolyn sing along to in her car, in a Bobby Darin recording?

"Don't Rain on My Parade", in Bobby Darin's recording, was given to the actress by the director to get into Carolyn's head; she liked it so much she persuaded him to put it in the film.

Who covers Neil Young's 'Don't Let It Bring You Down' during Angela's seduction of Lester?

Annie Lennox's cover, from her 1995 covers album Medusa, plays as Angela undresses for Lester; the song's tone fits at first, then clashes deliberately as the seduction stops.

Elliott Smith's contribution to the soundtrack is a cover of which Beatles song?

"Because", from Abbey Road, is the Beatles song Elliott Smith covered; it plays over the film's closing stretch and credits.

The Burnham and Fitts houses were built on which studio's backlot?

Warner Bros. lent its backlot; the crew rebuilt the houses with false rooms so the sightlines between Ricky's window, Jane's window and Lester's garage would work.

The aerial shots that open and close the film were filmed over which city?

Sacramento stood in for the never-named town in the aerial shots; the production designer likened the setting to Evanston, Illinois, but called it 'Anywhere, USA'.

What happened in the deleted bookend scenes from the original edit?

Jane and Ricky are tried for Lester's murder in the bookend scenes of the first cut; the director dropped them late in editing because they turned the film into a courtroom whodunit.

The film's first cut opened with a dream in which Lester does what?

Flies above the town is what Lester does in the dream that opened the first cut; two days of bluescreen work were dropped as too whimsical, 'like a Coen brothers movie'.

Which cinematographer turned the film down, disliking the script?

Frederick Elmes, the director's first choice, passed on the script; the veteran who took the job instead went on to win the Oscar for it.

MTV withdrew a 2000 Best Kiss nomination for Lester and Angela after what happened?

The studio refused to provide a clip, saying it did not want to glorify a kiss between a middle-aged man and a 16-year-old girl, so MTV dropped the nomination.

Which festival's audience-voted People's Choice Award did the film win in September 1999?

Toronto's festival gave it the People's Choice Award that September; the festival's director called it 'the buzz of the festival, the film most talked-about'.

Which sitcom did the writer create while developing the script, channeling his frustration with network notes?

Oh, Grow Up, an ABC sitcom that ran briefly in the autumn of the film's release year, was the writer's own creation, developed alongside the film script.

Which rental chain stocked far fewer copies than planned after failing to agree a deal with the studio?

Blockbuster Video failed to reach a revenue-sharing deal with the studio, so some stores stocked only 60 copies or none, and staff read customers a statement explaining why.

How many Academy Award nominations did the film receive?

8 nominations was the most of any film that year: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Original Score.

Where did the film have its world premiere in September 1999?

Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles hosted the opening-night screening on September 8; the film screened at a Canadian festival days later and then toured university campuses with the cast.

On its wide-release weekend the film placed third at the box office, behind which two films?

Double Jeopardy and Three Kings finished ahead of it on the October 1 wide-release weekend, when it grossed about $8.2 million from 706 theaters before finding its audience over months.

Who won the 2000 Best Actress Oscar, beating American Beauty's Carolyn?

Hilary Swank won Best Actress for Boys Don't Cry at the March 2000 ceremony, beating the nominated Carolyn performance from American Beauty.

What dish does Lester hurl against the wall in the dinner-table argument?

A plate of asparagus is what Lester flings at the wall at the family dinner, after his 'pass the asparagus' demand goes ignored.

Which painter's work did Mendes give Allison Janney to help her find the character of Barbara Fitts?

Edvard Munch's paintings, in a book the director handed her, were the prompt: 'your character is in there somewhere'; most of Barbara's dialogue was then cut in favour of shared silences.

Which 2009 documentary followed Wes Bentley and other young actors before and after he won the role of Ricky?

My Big Break, Tony Zierra's 2009 documentary, followed a group of young actors sharing a house, and caught the moment the Ricky role changed its subject's career.

What is the shared first name of the film's happily boring gay neighbours, played by Scott Bakula and Sam Robards?

Jim is the name both neighbours share, 'Jim and Jim'; the writer created them wanting a gay couple who could be 'just as boring' as any matching-outfit straight couple.

On which part of the Warner backlot were the adjacent Burnham and Fitts houses built?

Blondie Street, the backlot's suburban row, held both houses; false rooms were added to create sightlines between Ricky's and Jane's windows and into Lester's garage.

How many BAFTAs did American Beauty win at the 2000 ceremony?

Six BAFTAs went to the film in 2000: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Cinematography, Editing and Film Music.

Which Miramax film was American Beauty's closest rival for the Best Picture Oscar?

The Cider House Rules was Miramax's contender; stung by losing the previous year with Saving Private Ryan, the rival studio bought far more Variety advertising this time.

In 2005 which magazine listed American Beauty among the 20 'most overrated movies of all time'?

Premiere included it in a 2005 list of the 20 most overrated movies of all time; the director himself conceded in 2008 that the film had been 'a little overpraised at the time'.

How old does Lester say he is in the opening narration?

42 is the age Lester gives in the opening narration: 'I'm 42 years old; in less than a year, I'll be dead.'