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
Carolyn Murphy Carolyn Murphy Carolyn Murphy (born August 11, 1973) is an American model and actress. In 1998, Murphy was named VH1/"Vogue"s Model of the Year. She played Dubbie in Barry Levinson's film "Liberty Heights". She was one of the "Modern Muses" on the November 1999 millennium cover of American "Vogue" and was chosen to represent Calvin Klein's perfume, "Contradiction". In 1998, during a photo shoot for "Elle", the photographer noticed her resemblance to the actress Gene Tierney and dubbed her "The blonde Gene Tierney". Murphy has shot campaigns for Missoni, Versace and Tiffany & Co. In 2005 she was featured on