 <unk> and Cohen involved Ball throughout the film 's development , including casting and director selection . The producers met with about 20 interested directors , several of whom were considered " A @-@ list " at the time . Ball was not keen on the more well @-@ known directors because he believed their involvement would increase the budget and lead DreamWorks to become " nervous about the content " . Nevertheless , the studio offered the film to Mike Nichols and Robert <unk> ; neither accepted . In the same year , <unk> ( then a theater director ) revived the musical <unk> in New York with fellow director Rob Marshall . Beth <unk> of the Creative Artists Agency arranged meetings for <unk> with studio figures in Los Angeles to see if film direction was a possibility . <unk> came across American Beauty in a pile of eight scripts at <unk> 's house , and knew immediately that it was the one he wanted to make ; early in his career , he had been inspired by how the film Paris , Texas ( 1984 ) presented contemporary America as a mythic landscape and he saw the same theme in American Beauty , as well as parallels with his own childhood . <unk> later met with Spielberg ; impressed by <unk> ' productions of Oliver ! and <unk> , Spielberg encouraged him to consider American Beauty . 
