Search results
All grown up, this petite beauty (5' 4") with green eyes had a major role in American Beauty (1999) which won 5 Oscar awards. Thora delivered a strong, effective performance as the alienated daughter of parents whose mid-life crises drive them to affairs and destruction; her acting was convincing and inspired and, once again, received good reviews.
- January 1, 1
- 1.63 m
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, and Omri Katz in The Hocus Pocus 25th Anniversary Halloween Bash (2018)- Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, and Thora Birch in Patriot Games (1992)
- Thora Birch and Omri Katz in Hocus Pocus (1993)
- Thora Birch in Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
- Thora Birch, Douglas Taurel, and Samuel Whitten in The Gabby Petito Story (2022)
- Thora Birch in The Gabby Petito Story (2022)
- Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann, and Ashleigh Aston Moore in Now and Then (1995)
- Thora Birch in Day by Day (1988)
- Thora Birch and Courtney Thorne-Smith in Day by Day (1988)
- Carolyn’s Meltdown Was Done in One Take
- Thora Birch’s Parents Had to Be on The Set For Her Topless Scene
- Honey Tobacco Was Used as Prop Weed
- Lester’s Job Application at Mr. Smiley’s Was Actually Shot at Night
- The Script’S Original Ending Was Very Different
- The Hand Model on The Poster Was Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks
- Kirsten Dunst and Sarah Michelle Gellar Turned Down The Role of Angela
- Screenwriter Alan Ball Initially Envisioned The Film as A Stage Play
Early in the movie, we see Carolyn show an open house to a couple of potential buyers who decide not to take it. When she’s alone, after failing to sell the house, she breaks down. Annette Bening nailed this scene in a single take. The actor claimed that she based her performance as Carolyn on the suburban moms she saw behind closed doors when she ...
Thora Birch was under 18 when she shot her topless scene for American Beauty(she may have been 16 or 17 — there are conflicting reports), so she was a minor according to U.S. law. This meant that she couldn’t shoot the scene without permission from both her parents and the child labor representative, and they all had to be present on the set. In an...
In a couple of scenes in American Beauty, Lester gets weed from Ricky. They share a joint outside the restaurant where they meet, and after that, Ricky sells pot to Lester every now and then. In these scenes, honey tobacco was used as the prop weed. When Carolyn comes out to tell Lester she’s ready to leave, he starts laughing. This wasn’t scripted...
After quitting his office job, Lester drives down to a fast food outlet called Mr. Smiley’s to apply for a job in the drive-thru. Although this scene takes place in the middle of the day, it was shot at night. The light had to be altered to look like it was the daytime in post-production. The fact that it was really night-time can be spotted in the...
At the end of the initial script, Lester actually went through with sleeping with Angela. The filmmakers eventually decided that having him stop right beforehand would be more effective, although they feared they’d be accused of playing it safe. RELATED: 5 Movies With Alternate Endings Better Than The Original (& 5 That Are Worse) There was origina...
In an Instagram post last year, Mad Men star Christina Hendricks revealed that she was the hand model whose hand appeared on the poster for American Beauty. However, it wasn’t Hendricks’ stomach; the stomach belongs to Chloe Hunter. The poster bears the tagline “Look closer,” which refers to the meaning behind the title. American Beautyis named aft...
When the roles in American Beauty were being cast, the role of Angela was offered to Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Katie Holmes, who all turned it down. In Gellar’s case, it was due to her commitments to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kate Hudson, Majandra Delfino, and Tiffani Thiessen all auditioned to play Angela, but didn...
In his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, screenwriter Alan Ball claimed that he came up with the idea for this movie while he was sitting in the World Trade Center Plaza and saw a paper bag blowing in the wind. He initially conceived the story as a stage play. RELATED: 10 Must-See Movies That Are Actually Based On Plays On the DVD commentary...
- Ben Sherlock
- THE FAMOUS ROSE PETAL SCENE WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO FEATURE MENA SUVARI IN JUST A TUB OF WATER. Leave it to then-first-time filmmaker Sam Mendes (who won an Oscar for his work) to turn the idle into the iconic.
- THE SCENE WHERE KEVIN SPACEY SINGS “AMERICAN WOMAN” WAS IMPROVISED. Several actor improvisations were incorporated into the film. The most memorable? Kevin Spacey’s solo of “American Woman” as Lester smokes a joint and passes through a drive-thru after quitting his job.
- ANNETTE BENING WOULD IMPROV AS CAROLYN BURNHAM WHEN THE CAMERAS WEREN'T ROLLING. In 1999, Spacey told Playboy, “She would do improvs where she would begin talking as Carolyn.
- AMERICAN BEAUTY WAS INSPIRED BY AMY FISHER AND JOEY BUTTAFUOCO. For those unfamiliar with the early 1990s scandal, the two made headlines for their illicit affair; Fisher, who became known as the “Long Island Lolita,” was 17 years old when she shot her lover’s wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.
By November 1998, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, and Mena Suvari had been cast in the parts —in Birch's case, despite the fact she was 16 years old and was deemed underage for a brief nude scene, which her parents had to approve. Child labor representatives accompanied Birch's parents on set during the filming of the nude scene.
Following the success of American Beauty, Birch appeared in two films released in 2000: low-budget drama The Smokers, in which Birch was called "a scene-stealer" by The Hollywood Reporter, and Dungeons & Dragons, a poorly-received adaptation of the fantasy role-playing game of the same name.
