American Beauty (1999 film) "American Beauty" to the fledgling DreamWorks studio, which bought the script for $250,000, outbidding several other production bodies. DreamWorks financed the $15 million production and served as its North American distributor. "American Beauty" marked theater director Mendes' film debut; courted after his successful productions of the musicals "Oliver!" and "Cabaret", Mendes was only given the job after 20 others were considered and several A-list directors turned down the opportunity. Spacey was Mendes' first choice for the role of Lester, though DreamWorks urged him to consider better-known actors; similarly, the studio suggested several actors for the role of Carolyn until Mendes
Bo Burnham for "Funny People", in which Burnham stars in a NBC sitcom called "Yo Teach!" In the promo, Burnham stars opposite Jason Schwartzman, as a student in the latter's English class. Burnham wrote and directed his first feature film, "Eighth Grade", which was produced and distributed by A24 and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018. The film has been received well by critics: it garnered a 99% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 220 ratings, and holds an average rating of 90 out of 100 on Metacritic. In 2010, Burnham wrote, executive-produced, and starred in "Zach Stone