10 Things You Didn't Know About American Beauty

10. The End Is The Beginning Is The End

In line with the film, let’s begin at the end. The ending of American Beauty manages to be both definitive and also open ended. However, initial drafts were much more prescriptive.

In the run-up to the film’s finale, Lester notably stops short of having sex with Angela after learning that her flirtatious persona and bragging was to cover up being a virgin. However, Lester was initially scripted to go through with the act. The creative decision was made to stop him as it was felt to be more effective, though Ball and Mendes feared that the choice would be viewed as playing it to safe.

The film’s finale still cumulated in Lester’s murder at the hands of Col. Fitts, however, Jane and Ricky would be trialled and convicted. The video footage of Jane offering her boob-job savings to Ricky to kill her father served as damning evidence. Barbara Fitts (Allison Janney) would also be shown finding and hiding Col. Fitts’ blood-stained t-shirt.

However, test audiences expressed their distain at this ending. Mendes, along with editor Tariq Anwar, decided to leave the ending ambiguous, which had the added benefit of freeing up more screen time for the teen characters.