72nd Academy Awards · 2000
American Beauty
Directed byCooked up by Sam Mendes
“... look closer”
“Dad quit his job and bought a sports car. Era. 🌹”
The storyThe lore 📖
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Lester Burnham is a bored suburban dad who's been living in NPC mode for years. One day he hits a full midlife crisis: quits his job, works at a burger place, starts lifting weights, and buys his dream red sports car. Meanwhile his family and neighbors all have their own secret drama. Lowkey a movie about looking closer at what really matters. 🌹🚗
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
87%
Fresh
#71 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighborhood. This is my street. This is my life. I am 42 years old. In less than a year, I will be dead.
Sometimes, there's so much beauty in the world - I feel like I can't take it, like my heart is just going to cave in.
I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. … I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.
Ricky: When you see something like that, it's like God is looking right at you, just for a second. And if you're careful, you can look right back.
Jane: And what do you see?
Ricky: Beauty.
Remember those posters that said, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"? Well, that's true of every day but one - the day you die.
Never underestimate the power of denial.
It's the weirdest thing. I feel like I've been in a coma for about twenty years, and I'm just now waking up.
I will sell this house today.
It's just a couch! This isn't life! This is just stuff!
Will someone please pass me the fucking asparagus?
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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Warner Bros. backlot
Burbank, California
Two neighbouring houses on the backlot's Blondie Street were rebuilt as the Burnham and Fitts homes.
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Hancock Park
Los Angeles, California
The interior of the Fitts family's home was shot in this Los Angeles neighborhood.
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Brentwood
Los Angeles, California
One of the Los Angeles neighborhoods where the suburban drama was filmed on location.
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South High School
Torrance, California
Hosted many of the school scenes, with some real South High students appearing as extras in the gym crowd.
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Sacramento
California
Aerial shots of the city open and close the film, showing where the Burnhams live.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- The film's famous plastic-bag scene traces back to Alan Ball himself, who around 1991–92 watched a plastic bag blowing in the wind outside the World Trade Center for ten minutes and found it provoked an "unexpected emotional response."Wikipedia · Writing
- Sam Mendes was hired to direct for the Directors Guild minimum salary of $150,000, and he later recalled that after taxes and his agent's commission he earned only $38,000.Wikipedia · Development
- For the scene where Lester masturbates in bed beside Carolyn, Kevin Spacey improvised 35 different euphemisms, and Annette Bening could not always keep a straight face, so the scene had to be shot ten times.Wikipedia · Filming
- DreamWorks executives were unenthusiastic about Kevin Spacey and suggested Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner and John Travolta to play Lester; the role was also offered to Chevy Chase, who turned it down.Wikipedia · Casting
- Kirsten Dunst turned down the role of Angela because of the character's sexual behavior and made The Virgin Suicides instead, while Sarah Michelle Gellar declined due to scheduling conflicts with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Wikipedia · Casting
- The film's tagline, "look closer," originally came from a cutting the set dresser had pasted on Lester's workplace cubicle.Wikipedia · Publicity
- Sam Mendes spent two days filming Kevin Spacey flying over the town for an opening dream sequence, then cut it as too whimsical, "like a Coen brothers movie." He also cut bookend scenes of Jane and Ricky's murder trial.Wikipedia · Editing
- Alan Ball began American Beauty in the early 1990s as a play, partly inspired by the media circus surrounding the 1992 Amy Fisher trial, but shelved it after deciding the story would not work on stage.Wikipedia · Development
- Conrad Hall was not Sam Mendes's first choice for cinematographer: Frederick Elmes turned the job down because he did not like the script, and Hall was recommended by Tom Cruise.Wikipedia · Cinematography
- The 2000 MTV Movie Awards initially nominated the kiss between Kevin Spacey's Lester and Mena Suvari's Angela for Best Kiss, but DreamWorks refused to supply a clip of the "inappropriate" kiss and MTV rescinded the nomination.Wikipedia · MTV Movie Awards controversy