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
Characters in Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective "Wired"s Jason Schreier found numerous similarities between the two series' characters, calling Sissel "endearing in his brutal honesty and loyalty" and the other characters memorable, while also praising the dialogue as fantastic. "The Telegraph"s Tom Hoggins, while calling the characters unique, noted the similarities between the two cast of characters, noting the "colour playfulness" that is "thickly laced with dark tragedy and built on strong character." GameSpot's Carolyn Petit called the characters memorable, attributing this to their "snappy dialogue". "Official Nintendo Magazine"s Chris Scullion called the characters colourful, and praised the game's script. GamesRadar's Carolyn Gudmundson called the characters "many-layered",