Mendes avoided using close @-@ ups , as he believed the technique was overused ; he also cited Spielberg 's advice that he should imagine an audience silhouetted at the bottom of the camera monitor , to keep in mind that he was shooting for display on a 40 @-@ foot ( 10 m ) screen . Spielberg — who visited the set a few times — also advised Mendes not to worry about costs if he had a " great idea " toward the end of a long working day . Mendes said , " That happened three or four times , and they are all in the movie . " Despite Spielberg 's support , DreamWorks and Mendes fought constantly over the schedule and budget , although the studio interfered little with the film 's content . Spacey , Bening and Hall worked for significantly less than their usual rates . American Beauty cost DreamWorks $ 15 million to produce , slightly above their projected sum . Mendes was so dissatisfied with his first three days ' filming that he obtained permission from DreamWorks to reshoot the scenes . He said , " I started with a wrong scene , actually , a comedy scene . And the actors played it way too big : [ ... ] it was badly shot , my fault , badly composed , my fault , bad costumes , my fault [ ... ] ; and everybody was doing what I was asking . It was all my fault . " Aware that he was a novice , Mendes drew on the experience of Hall : " I made a very conscious decision early on , if I didn 't understand something technically , to say , without embarrassment , ' I don 't understand what you 're talking about , please explain it . ' "