AMERICAN BEAUTY: SOME INTERESTING FACTS (part 3)
About the original version of the script…
— In the original version of the script, there was a separate story that included Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) having a gay lover who dies in Vietnam.
— Another version of the script involved Ricky and Jane being arrested and convicted for the murder of Lester. The main evidence is the video Ricky made of Jane offering him $3,000 to kill her father, which we, the viewers, find out was a joke immediately after Ricki turns off the camera, one second too late for the defense. It also involves Mrs. Fitts finding her husband’s bloody clothes, and hiding them immediately after.
— In the script, Lester was supposed to go ahead and have sex with Angela, but it was decided that it would be better to have him stop just short of doing so - in spite of the filmmakers’ concerns that they might be making the change out of uneasiness with having the main character actually go that far.
And at last …
— According to his Oscar speech, Alan Ball was sitting at the World Trade Center plaza when he saw a paper bag floating in the wind and was inspired by it to write the film.
— Wes Bentley was the first actor to read for the part of Ricky, and was asked to do the scene where he describes his reaction to the plastic bag; the casting director felt that although she had read that scene numerous times, his reading was the first time she felt she understood the meaning of it.
<:3 )~~~~~~
Yours sincerely,
AlexSandra
—- According to http://imdb.com/