Movie: American Beauty (1999)
- Director: Sam Mendes
- Release Date: 2 March 2000 (Hong Kong)
- Run Time: 122 min
- Country: USA
- Genre: Drama
- MPAA: Rated R for strong sexuality, language, violence and drug content.
Tagline: … look closer
Trivia: Chris Cooper was the last actor cast – virtually when rehearsals were beginning. When he first read the script, he found the character infuriating, thinking: “God, do I want to spend so much time in this character’s head?” He remembers, “Then I started making excuses… I said, this is such a negative script, I don’t like this and that.” His wife finally told him he was “frightened of this script and chances are because you’re frightened you should do this part”; his response was that he “knew, really immediately, that she was right.”
Goofs: Continuity: Lester driving to the song “American Woman” appears to be making a continuous right turn by the tilt of his steering while driving down a straight road (compare the position of the steering wheel in the next scene where he is actually driving the car into Mr. Smiley’s). The Camry is obviously being towed on a process trailer for this shot but someone has neglected to straighten out the front wheels of the car before turning the engine off and securing it to the trailer.
“Lester and Carolyn Burnham are on the outside, a perfect husband and wife, in a perfect house, in a perfect neighborhood. But inside, Lester is slipping deeper and deeper into a hopeless depression. He finally snaps when he becomes infatuated with one of his daughter’s friends. Meanwhile, his daughter Jane is developing a happy friendship with a shy boy-next-door named Ricky, who lives with a homophobic father. Written by Jessie Skinner <eietherbinge@hotmail.com>”
