Editing American Beauty (1999 film) (section)

===Publicity===
DreamWorks contracted [[Amazon.com]] to create the official website, marking the first time that Amazon had created a special section devoted to a feature film. The website included an overview, a photo gallery, cast and crew filmographies, and exclusive interviews with Spacey and Bening.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Graser |first1=Marc |last2=Madigan |first2=Nick |date=August 31, 1999 |title=Amazon.com books 'Beauty' for D'Works |magazine=Variety |url=https://variety.com/1999/digital/news/amazon-com-books-beauty-for-d-works-1117755245/ |access-date=May 15, 2023}}</ref> The film's tagline—"look closer"—originally came from a cutting pasted on Lester's workplace cubicle by the set dresser.<ref name="chapter 2" /> DreamWorks ran parallel marketing campaigns and trailers—one aimed at adults, the other at teenagers. Both trailers ended with the poster image of a girl holding a rose.{{refn|The navel pictured is not Mena Suvari's; it belongs to the model [[Chloe Hunter]].<ref name="hochman" />|group="nb"}}{{refn|The hand on the poster belongs to actress [[Christina Hendricks]], who was a hand model at the time.<ref name="Hendricks">{{Cite web |last=Hughes, William |date=August 22, 2019 |title=Holy shit, that's Christina Hendricks' hand on the American Beauty poster |url=https://www.avclub.com/holy-shit-thats-christina-hendricks-hand-on-the-americ-1837495784 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823042452/https://news.avclub.com/holy-shit-thats-christina-hendricks-hand-on-the-americ-1837495784 |archive-date=August 23, 2019 |access-date=August 23, 2019 |publisher=The Onion AV Club}}</ref>|group="nb"}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McKittrick |first=Casey |date=Spring 2001 |title=I Laughed and Cringed at the same Time |journal=[[Velvet Light Trap]] |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |issue=47 |pages=5+13}}</ref>

Reviewing the posters of several films of the year, David Hochman of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' rated ''American Beauty''{{'}}s highly, saying it evoked the tagline; he said, "You return to the poster again and again, thinking, this time you're gonna find something."<ref name="hochman">Hochman, David (November 26, 1999). "Moving Pictures". ''Entertainment Weekly'': 25–26.</ref> DreamWorks did not want to [[test screening|test screen]] the film; according to Mendes, the studio was pleased with it, but he insisted on one where he could question the audience afterward. The studio reluctantly agreed and showed the film to a young audience in [[San Jose, California]]. Mendes claimed the screening went very well.{{refn|Mendes said, "So at the end of the film I got up, and I was terribly British, I said, 'So, who kind of liked the movie?' And about a third of them put up their hands, and I thought, 'Oh shit.' So I said, 'OK, who kind of didn't like it?' Two people. And I said, 'Well, what else is there?' And a guy in the front said, 'Ask who really liked the movie.' So I did, and they all put up their hands. And I thought, 'Thank you, God.{{'"}}<ref name="kemp 27" />|group="nb"}}<ref name="kemp 27" />