American Beauty (1999 film) and "Magnolia"). In 2006, the Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay number 38 on its list of the 101 greatest screenplays. Annotations Footnotes Bibliography American Beauty (1999 film) American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in his feature film directorial debut. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a 42-year-old advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). Annette Bening co-stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper,
American Beauty (1999 film) but Carolyn did not feature strongly; Jim and Jim instead had much larger roles. Ball based Lester's story on aspects of his own life. Lester's re-examination of his life parallels feelings Ball had in his mid-30s; like Lester, Ball put aside his passions to work in jobs he hated for people he did not respect. Scenes in Ricky's household reflect Ball's own childhood experiences. Ball suspected his father was homosexual and used the idea to create Col. Fitts, a man who "gave up his chance to be himself". Ball said the script's mix of comedy and drama was not intentional,