Editing American Beauty (1999 film) (section)

===Writing===
{{Quote box|quote=<nowiki>"I think I was writing about ... how it's becoming harder and harder to live an authentic life when we live in a world that seems to focus on appearance. ... For all the differences between now and the [1950s], in a lot of ways this is just as oppressively conformist a time. ... You see so many people who strive to live the unauthentic life and then they get there and they wonder why they're not happy. ... I didn't realize it when I sat down to write [</nowiki>''American Beauty''<nowiki>], but these ideas are important to me."</nowiki>|align=right|width=30em|style=padding:8px|source=—Alan Ball, 2000<ref name="chumo 32">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|p=32}}</ref>}}
Ball was partly inspired by two encounters he had in the early 1990s. In about 1991–92, Ball saw a plastic bag blowing in the wind outside the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]. He watched the bag for ten minutes, saying later that it provoked an "unexpected emotional response".<ref>{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=24}}</ref> In 1992, Ball became preoccupied with the media circus that accompanied the [[Amy Fisher]] trial.<ref name="chumo 26" /> Discovering a comic book telling of the scandal, he was struck by how quickly it had become commercialized.<ref name="kazan 25">{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=25}}</ref> He said he "felt like there was a real story underneath [that was] more fascinating and way more tragic" than the story presented to the public,<ref name="chumo 26" /> and attempted to turn the idea into a play. Ball produced around 40 pages,<ref name="kazan 25" /> but stopped when he realized it would work better as a film.<ref name="chumo 26" /> He felt that because of the visual themes, and because each character's story was "intensely personal", it could not be done on a stage. All the main characters appeared in this version, but Carolyn did not feature strongly; Jim and Jim instead had much larger roles.<ref>{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=37}}</ref>

Ball based Lester's story on aspects of his own life.<ref name="Chumo II 2000 pages=26–27">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|pages=26–27}}</ref> Lester's re-examination of his life parallels feelings Ball had in his mid-30s;<ref name="chumo 32-33">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|pages=32–33}}</ref> like Lester, Ball put aside his passions to work in jobs he hated for people he did not respect.<ref name="Chumo II 2000 pages=26–27" /> Scenes in Ricky's household reflect Ball's own childhood experiences.<ref name="chumo 27" /> Ball suspected his father was homosexual and used the idea to create Col. Fitts, a man who "gave up his chance to be himself".<ref name="kilday">{{cite magazine|last=Kilday |first=Gregg |date=January 18, 2000 |title=Worth a Closer Look |magazine=The Advocate |pages=91–92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA91 |access-date=May 15, 2023}}</ref> Ball said the script's mix of comedy and drama was not intentional, but that it came unconsciously from his own outlook on life. He said the juxtaposition produced a starker contrast, giving each trait more impact than if they appeared alone.<ref name="chumo 30">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|p=30}}</ref>

In the script that was sent to prospective actors and directors, Lester and Angela had sex;<ref name="kazan 32" /> by the time of shooting, Ball had rewritten the scene to the final version.<ref name="chumo 33">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|p=33}}</ref> Ball initially rebuffed counsel from others that he change the script, feeling they were being puritanical; the final impetus to alter the scene came from DreamWorks's then-president Walter Parkes. He convinced Ball by indicating that in [[Greek mythology]], the hero "has a moment of epiphany before&nbsp;... tragedy occurs".<ref name="kazan 32-33">{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|pages=32–33}}</ref> Ball later said his anger when writing the first draft had blinded him to the idea that Lester needed to refuse sex with Angela to complete his emotional journey—to achieve redemption.<ref name="chumo 33" /> Jinks and Cohen asked Ball not to alter the scene right away, as they felt it would be inappropriate to make changes to the script before a director had been hired.<ref name="kazan 33">{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=33}}</ref> Early drafts also included a flashback to Col. Fitts's service in the Marines, a sequence that unequivocally established his homosexual leanings. In love with another Marine, Col. Fitts sees the man die and comes to believe that he is being punished for the "sin" of being gay. Ball removed the sequence because it did not fit the structure of the rest of the film—Col. Fitts was the only character to have a flashback<ref name="chumo 33-34" />—and because it removed the element of surprise from Col. Fitts's later pass at Lester.<ref name="kazan 33" /> Ball said he had to write it for his own benefit to know what happened to Col. Fitts, though all that remained in later drafts was subtext.<ref name="chumo 33-34">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|pages=33–34}}</ref>

Ball remained involved throughout production;<ref name="kazan 31" /> he had signed a television show development deal, so had to get permission from his producers to take a year off to be close to ''American Beauty''.<ref name="kazan 32">{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=32}}</ref> Ball was on-set for rewrites and to help interpret his script for all but two days of filming.<ref name="kazan 35">{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=35}}</ref> His original bookend scenes—in which Ricky and Jane are prosecuted for Lester's murder after being framed by Col. Fitts<ref name="wolk">{{cite magazine|last=Wolk |first=Josh |date=March 27, 2000 |url=http://www.ew.com/article/2000/03/27/why-american-beauty-won-best-script |title=Pitching Fitts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922122219/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C85090%2C00.html |archive-date=September 22, 2008 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref>—were excised in [[post-production]];<ref name="chumo 26" /> the writer later felt the scenes were unnecessary, saying they were a reflection of his "anger and cynicism" at the time of writing {{crossreference|(see {{slink||Editing}})}}.<ref name="chumo 30" /> Ball and Mendes revised the script twice before it was sent to the actors, and twice more before the first read-through.<ref name="chumo 28" /> The script was written between June 1997 and February 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inside Film Online - American Beauty Screenwriter Alan Ball Conducts Case Study at the IFP/West Screenwriters Conference |url=http://www.insidefilm.com/alan_ball.html |url-status=live |website=insidefilm.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831020706/http://www.insidefilm.com/alan_ball.html |archive-date=August 31, 2021 |access-date=August 31, 2021}}</ref>

The shooting script features a scene in Angela's car in which Ricky and Jane talk about death and beauty; the scene differed from earlier versions, which set it as a "big scene on a freeway"<ref name="chumo 35" /> in which the three witness a car crash and see a dead body.<ref name="kazan 36">{{harvnb|Kazan|2000|p=36}}</ref> The change was a practical decision, as the production was behind schedule and they needed to cut costs.<ref name="chumo 35" /> The schedule called for two days to be spent filming the crash, but only half a day was available.<ref name="kazan 36" /> Ball agreed, but only if the scene could retain a line of Ricky's where he reflects on having once seen a dead homeless woman: "When you see something like that, it's like God is looking right at you, just for a second. And if you're careful, you can look right back." Jane asks: "And what do you see?" Ricky: "Beauty." Ball said, "They wanted to cut that scene. They said it's not important. I said, 'You're out of your fucking mind. It's one of the most important scenes in the movie!'&nbsp;... If any one line is the heart and soul of this movie, that is the line."<ref name="chumo 35">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|p=35}}</ref> Another scene was rewritten to accommodate the loss of the freeway sequence; set in a schoolyard, it presents a "turning point" for Jane in that she chooses to walk home with Ricky instead of going with Angela.<ref name="kazan 36" /> By the end of filming, the script had been through ten drafts.<ref name="chumo 28">{{harvnb|Chumo II|2000|p=28}}</ref>