Annette Bening improvised a climactic American Beauty detail
Celebrating the American Beauty's 25th anniversary, Annette Bening says she “just loved playing” Carolyn Burnham
Aux News American Beauty
1999 was a great year for film; classics celebrating their 25th anniversary this year include 10 Things I Hate About You, The Matrix, Eyes Wide Shut, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, American Pie, and Sam Mendes’ Best Picture winner, American Beauty. Though something of a shadow has been cast over the movie in the wake of accusations that the Oscar-winning star Kevin Spacey did indeed prey on younger men, it doesn’t diminish the artistry or the cultural impact of the movie. As for Annette Bening, she “just loved playing” Carolyn Burnham, even if “she was a little psychotic.”
“I guess my favorite memory would be one of the little moments after [Spacey’s character, Lester] died,” she recalls in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, citing the moment Carolyn embraces Lester’s clothing. “Very rarely do they have time to say, ‘OK, you know, improvise, do what you want,’ but I do remember that moment and I remember thinking I needed that,” Bening shares. “That I needed that moment for her to, you know, be missing her husband. That was important even though there’s all that brutalness about her. That she also really, at heart, she loved him.”
American Beauty, which also won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, was overall improv-friendly, Bening reveals. “I can remember him coming in and saying—Sam Mendes, our director, wonderful director—coming in and saying, ‘Hey, you know, now just do it again, say whatever you want,” she says. “In the moment, you know, when you literally don’t know what you’re going to say, it’s very exciting.”
Exciting it may have been, but co-star Chris Cooper previously admitted his intense scene with onscreen son Wes Bentley was “emotionally tough.” “It was a very long night. We shot that scene all night. You know, we shoot the scene, take a break. I know I was crying my eyes out,” he told The A.V. Club back in 2010. “It’s just, you try to play it as close to the bone as you can, also with safety in mind so nobody gets hurt, but emotionally, I can’t say it was pleasant.”
Nevertheless, he added, “I don’t know how other actors deal with it, but when I’m shooting the film, I’m there to work. I’m trying to put everything I can into it to make this character interesting to the viewer, and hopefully, after seeing the film, they continue to ask questions about that character.”
27 Comments
it doesn’t diminish the artistry or the cultural impact of the movieI was wondering when the cycle would reach this stage. 25th anniversary seems like an appropriate time.
Seriously, I thought we all agreed that American Beauty was one of the worst Best Picture Oscar winners in recent memory.Although Crash and Million Dollar Baby are close in the running.
People say money can’t buy happiness but I think the backlash to this movie shows that people often act like they don’t really believe it.
It’s a fine movie, full of surprises and turns, and yes, the actor whose voiceover fills your ears at the end may be an execrable human being, but it’s a great performance by him nonetheless.
The problem with Spacey is that he’s a great actor. If he was merely mediocre then there wouldn’t be this horrible ambivalence about his work.
Maybe, but I think many people (me included) don’t feel any inconsistency with enjoying a work in which an actor appears and thinking that actor has done bad things off-screen. Like, I don’t think anyone would argue that Russell Brand is a great actor, but his alleged misconduct really doesn’t have any effect on me enjoying Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
I re-watched L.A. Confidential recently and had no problem seeing Spacey as a main character. Frank Reynolds being in it however, was weird as hell.
Of course. I still own all my old Woody Allen DVDs but I haven’t watched any of new stuff because I can’t continue to support him going forward. I feel the same about Kevin Spacey, I will still watch Usual Suspects but will not support any of his work going forward. Its the best balance I can find.And no I am not perfect and yes I am sure someone will come up with a scenario where I am not being perfectly ethical in my media consumption but I am just little guy doing my best in a world I have very little control in.
Yeah, I think some of the whole drama about whether we need to stop listening to Michael Jackson or watching movies with Kevin Spacey is just the flipside of the parasocial relationship a lot of people have with people like Taylor Swift. It imagines we have some sort of relationship with these people, and the stuff we do (wearing friendship bracelets, not watching certain movies) amounts to interacting with the,.But the reality is, Swift is not my friend, and Spacey is not my enemy — I don’t have a relationship with either one, and nothing I do will have any effect on them at all. So the good news is I don’t have to worry about it.
I have never been such a fan of much of celebrity where I didn’t feel like I could walk away or the flipside that I would spend my life defending a famous stranger online or spending $5,000 to see a show so it isn’t really parasocial for me. I think when it comes to sex crimes I have a hard time compartmentalizing it versus something like Christian Bale screaming like a lunatic at a co-worker I can just sort of ignore. I don’t know what it’s like to work on a set or the stresses. Not saying it’s okay but I am not part of that life.
To be clear, you should only watch something if you want to watch it — we’re talking about entertainment products, after all. And I certainly understand that people may have a reaction to people like Spacey that makes it hard to watch his movies. If that’s your situation, either because of your own experience of sexual harassment/assault or just because it makes you feel unpleasant, by all means, feel free not to.But I think some people are arguing that we should not watch movies involving people like Spacey, even if we don’t have that reaction ourselves. They think there is something immoral about watching art where someone involved engaged in misconduct. I think that’s unjustified. If you can get enjoyment out of a piece of art, enjoy it. If you’re able to separate the art from the artist, that’s lucky for you.
And here I was expecting her climactic improv to be when she shouted, “Fuck me, your majesty!” to the Mattress King.
Gotta be honest, I came to this article kind of hoping that was the part Bening improvised.
I rented American Pie thinking I was going to watch American Beauty. The funny part, though, is I’m Canadian!
The Aristocrats!
Unfortunately, despite many great movies being made by and with Canadians, the best movie I can find with “Canadian” in the title is the very bad Canadian Bacon.
25 years on, I think Spacey’s offscreen behavior is not the most problematic thing about American Beauty
What is?
Yeah, I don’t know why this movie gets a pass.
I don’t know about it continuing to get a pass – I have been so heartened to see its reputation turn around in the years since its release. I was completely mystified at the time as to why it was so acclaimed. As to why it was acclaimed at all! It was one of those huge, beloved movies, like “Forrest Gump”, which just made me feel like something was wrong with everyone for some reason.
What is?I’m not trying to be argumentative, I just don’t remember. The thing that comes to mind is “adult man wants to fuck his teenage daughter’s friend.” But that’s just a character being terrible. Is it something like the idea that the movie makes it seem like gay people will murder you if you reject their advances?
Both of those things, plus how the adult man dies a hero because he decides not to fuck a teenager solely because he learns she’s a virgin. Also, underage Thora Birch doing a nude scene with her creepy, ex-porn star dad on the set. He reportedly had a fixation with her.
Huh, I didn’t really see it as him dying a hero. Just sort of at peace with himself. He got what he thought he wanted and realized it was wrong and he didn’t want it. I had no idea about the stuff with Thora Birch and her weirdo father. I’m not really sure I’d hold that against the movie. The production crew, sure.
A pity, considering how horribly the movie has aged.
There was a time when I thought Alan Ball was a great writer. Even that first season of True Blood I was thinking “this isn’t my cup of tea, but it’s entertaining.” Anyway Six Feet Under is still good!
“1999 was a great year for film; classics celebrating their 25th anniversary this year include 10 Things I Hate About You, The Matrix, Eyes Wide Shut, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, American Pie, and Sam Mendes’ Best Picture winner, American Beauty.”Yikes. That’s your list of great movies from 1999? Let’s try one for someone who hasn’t suffered a major head wound:The InsiderElectionOffice SpaceLock Stock and Two Smoking BarrelsLola RenntSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & UncutOutside ProvidenceThe LimeyThe Straight StoryLast Night
One of the most overrated films in the last 25 years. A guy in his 50’s trying to bang a high school girl played for laughs. There is some good work done by the actors but the overall plot of this movie is pure shit.