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List of accolades received by American Beauty

Alan Ball, whose screenplay was the focus of many of the awards wins and nominations
Award wins & nominations Award Won Nominated Academy Awards 5 8 Amanda Awards 1 1 American Cinema Editors 0 1 American Comedy Awards 1 3 ASC Awards 1 1 Art Directors Guild Awards 0 1 Australian Film Institute Awards 1 1 Awards of the Japanese Academy 0 1 Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics 0 1 British Academy of Film and Television Arts 6 14 BMI Film & Television Awards 1 1 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 0 5 Bodil Awards 1 1 Bogey Awards 1 1 Brit Awards 0 1 British Society of Cinematographers Awards 1 1 Broadcast Film Critics 3 3 Casting Society of America Award 1 1 César Award 0 1 Chicago Film Critics Association 4 7 Cinema Audio Society Awards 0 1 Costume Designers Guild Awards 1 1 Czech Lion Award 1 1 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award 3 3 David di Donatello Awards 0 1 Directors Guild of America Awards 1 1 Empire Awards 0 4 European Film Awards 0 1 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 1 1 Florida Film Critics Circle Award 2 2 Golden Globe Awards 3 6 Golden Screen Award 1 1 Grammy Awards 1 2 Guldbagge Awards 0 1 Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards 0 1 International Monitor Awards 1 1 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Awards 1 1 Kansas City Film Critics Circle 3 3 Kinema Junpo Awards 1 1 Las Vegas Film Critics Society 2 8 London Film Critics' Circle Awards 5 5 Los Angeles Film Critics 1 1 Lumière Awards 1 1 Motion Picture Sound Editors 2 2 MTV Movie Awards 0 1 National Board of Review 2 2 National Society of Film Critics Awards 1 1 Online Film Critics Society 4 12 People's Choice Awards 1 1 PGA Awards 1 1 Publicists Guild of America Awards 1 1 Robert Award 1 1 Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards 1 1 San Diego Film Critics Society 4 4 Satellite Awards 0 7 Screen Actors Guild Awards 3 4 Southeastern Film Critics Association 4 4 Teen Choice Awards 0 3 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 1 1 Writers Guild of America Awards 1 1 Young Artist Award 1 1 Young Hollywood Artist Awards 2 2 YoungStar Awards 1 1
Total number of wins and nominations
Totals	89	160
Footnotes

American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. The film stars Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged office worker who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend. Released in North America on September 15, 1999, American Beauty was positively received by critics and audiences alike; it was the best-reviewed American film of the year and grossed over $350 million worldwide. Reviewers praised all aspects of the production, with particular emphasis on Mendes, Spacey and Ball; criticism tended to focus on the familiarity of the characters and setting. At the 1999 Academy Awards, the film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Spacey), Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography (for Conrad Hall). The film was nominated for and won numerous other awards and honors, mainly for the direction, writing, and acting.

DreamWorks launched a major campaign to promote the film five weeks before the ballots for the Academy Awards were due. Its campaign combined traditional advertising and publicity with more focused strategies to reach 5,600 Academy voters. Although direct mail campaigning was prohibited, DreamWorks reached voters by promoting the film in "casual, comfortable settings" in voters' communities. The studio's candidate for the Academy Award for Best Picture the previous year, Saving Private Ryan, lost to Shakespeare in Love, so the studio took a new approach by hiring outsiders to provide input for the campaign. Nancy Willen encouraged DreamWorks to produce a special about the making of American Beauty, to set up displays of the film in the communities' bookstores, and to arrange a question-and-answer session with Mendes for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Dale Olson, who led the film's campaign, advised the studio to not limit its marketing to major newspapers, but to also advertise in free publications that circulated in Beverly Hills, home to many voters. Olson arranged to screen American Beauty to about 1,000 members of the Actors Fund of America, as many participating actors were also voters.

American Beauty's closest contender for Best Picture was seen as The Cider House Rules from Miramax. Both studios mounted aggressive campaigns; in the weeks leading up the ceremony, DreamWorks bought 38% more advertising space in Variety than Miramax. In 2000, the Publicists Guild of America recognized DreamWorks for the best film publicity campaign. In September 2008, Empire named American Beauty the 96th "Greatest Movie of All Time" after a poll of 10,000 readers, 150 filmmakers and 50 film critics. The film's award success was seen as vindication for DreamWorks, a studio which had only formed six years previously—to industry skepticism.

Selected awards and nominations

• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
  • "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in." – Nominated.

References

1. "Dale Olson, Hollywood publicist, dies". BBC News. 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
2. Wallace, Amy (March 28, 2000). "Aggressive campaign may have helped 'Beauty's' win". The Journal Gazette. (Reprinted from the Los Angeles Times.)
3. Karger, Dave (March 10, 2000). "Apple Juice". Entertainment Weekly.
4. McNary, Dave (March 23, 2000). "Pubs tap 'Beauty,' 'Wing'". Variety.
5. Staff (September 2008). "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire.
6. Lyman, Rick (March 28, 2000). "Oscar Victory Finally Lifts The Cloud for DreamWorks". The New York Times.

External links

• Awards for American Beauty at IMDb 

• Lists of accolades by American film