From the pages of Written
By, March 2000
Look closer at the
process of making American Beauty,
and you'll discover every writer's dream can come true.
Written By Nicholas Kazan
Introduction:
Occasionally, you'll hear about a writer's experience that
sounds too good to be true. Alan Ball's journey with his original screenplay,
American Beauty, is one of those incredible, almost unbelievable, fairy tales.
From inspiration to realization--from agent to producers to studio to director
to screen--Ball encountered the best of all possible writing worlds.
On its surface the American Beauty narrative appears
conventional: a bored suburbanite, Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), experiences
midlife crisis and resigns from his corporate job. His realtor wife, Carolyn
(Annette Bening), is enraged and embarks on an affair. Their teenage daughter,
Jane (Thora Birch), is alienated because Lester has all-too-obvious sexual
fantasies about her best friend, the boastfully promiscuous Angela (Mena
Suvari). Odd neighbors move in next door: a retired Marine (Chris Cooper); his
depressed, sedated wife (Allison Janney); and their dope-dealing teenager,
Ricky (Wes Bentley), whose hobby is secretly videotaping strangers.
On closer inspection we see that Ball's story is not so
conventional. Perhaps that accounts for the film's popularity.
Perhaps Ball's fortune is due to the magic touch of Steven
Spielberg, who gave the initial "go" to the project at DreamWorks.
Maybe simple coincidence and luck blessed American Beauty. Or perhaps Ball's
fantastic fate is due to the fact that a writer participated in every step of
development.
The answers should be found somewhere in the process.
Written By asked screenwriter Nicholas Kazan to talk with Alan Ball and the
film's producers, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, about the creation of American
Beauty. It all begins with a "metaphysical bag" blowing in the wind
. . . or is it simply the wind?
American
Beauty: The Shooting Script 
