Written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes, American Beauty follows advertising executive Lester Burnham, who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter’s best friend. Alan Ball wrote American Beauty in the early ‘90s, inspired by the media circus that accompanied the Amy Fisher trial. It wasn’t until 1997 that Dreamworks purchased the script and hired Sam Mendes to direct the film—who was only given the job after twenty other A-list directors turned down the opportunity. Designed to lure in audiences with a mixture of provocation and tasteful nudity, Entertainment Weekly said “You return to the poster, again and again, thinking, this time you’re gonna find something.”