Alan Ball Movies
The screenwriter and co-producer of American Beauty, Alan Ball earned almost overnight acclaim and recognition for his screenplay for the film, which won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar and Golden Globe, as well as numerous other honors. Ball's success was a long time coming; much of the frustration and anger felt by American Beauty's protagonist, Lester Burnham, was inspired by the screenwriter's own dissatisfaction with his years spent working as a television writer and producer.Born in Atlanta in 1957 and raised in the neighboring community of Marietta, Ball studied Theatre with an emphasis on acting and playwriting at Florida State University. After graduating, he moved to New York, where he became a noted playwright. Among the plays he penned were The Amazing Adventures of Tense Guy, Your Mother's Butt, Made for a Woman, and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress; when the latter premiered in 1993 at the Manhattan Class Company, it featured Allison Janney, with whom Ball would later work on American Beauty.
After moving to Hollywood, Ball began working on the TV sitcom Grace Under Fire, and then became a writer and eventually an executive co-producer for the sitcom Cybill for three seasons. While working in television, he channeled his frustration into the script for American Beauty, which was eventually picked up by DreamWorks. Working closely with director Sam Mendes, Ball was given a remarkable degree of control over his screenplay, and American Beauty premiered in 1999 to ecstatic reviews and a host of award nominations. A cynical but ultimately redemptive story about a man's mid-life crisis and journey to rediscover his passion for living, it reflected Ball's own outlook, which he has described as "equal parts brutally cynical and achingly romantic." The film earned a number of international awards, including Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (for Kevin Spacey), Best Director, and Best Picture.
When his latest ABC sitcom, Oh, Grow Up, died a quick death in the fall of 1999 just as Beauty began to take off, Ball was determined to escape the language and content constraints of network TV. Fending off many other offers, the writer-producer chose to align himself with HBO's immensely successful original programming department to release Six Feet Under in June of 2001. Inspired in part by Tony Richardson's 1965 satire The Loved One, the hour-long series focused on a family of morticians brought together by the untimely death of their father and featured Ball's now-trademark mix of ironic situations with sardonic dialogue.
The show has a highly-successful, occasionally controversial, five-season run on HBO. When it wrapped production, Ball went to work on his feature-film directorial debut Towelhead. Though the film didn't make much of an impression at the box office, Ball returned to HBO in 2008 with True Blood, a series about Southern vampires that quickly earned a fervent cult following and a fair amount of critical success.
~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 2008
This quirky TV series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress who lives in a small Louisiana town that just happens to be cohabitated by both humans and vampires. After a Japanese company successfully comes up with a synthetic blood for vampires to live on, it becomes possible for humans to share the world with the bloodsuckers. Even still, it's no easy thing when Sookie finds herself harboring feelings for one charming undead fellow named Bill, played by Stephen Moyer. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
Six Feet Under creator and American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball makes his feature directorial debut with this screen adaptation of author Alicia Erian's controversial novel Towelhead. Jasira (Summer Bishil) is a 13-year-old Arab-American who's contending with the pains of adolescence when her life takes a sudden and unexpected turn. Sent to live with her stern Lebanese father, Rifat (Peter Macdissi), by her self-absorbed mother (Maria Bello), Jasira finds herself struggling to adjust to life in the suburbs while contending with racism and hypocrisy at every turn. Rifat lives in a modest, suburban Houston home next to racist reservist Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart) and meddling expectant mother Melina (Toni Collette). Adjusting to life in the suburbs isn't easy for young Jasira, though she tries her hardest to adapt to the unfamiliar environment by striking up casual conversations with her curious new neighbors. In the process, Jasira finds herself increasingly attracted to hormone-driven African-American teen Thomas (Eugene Jones). When Rifat finds out that his daughter's new boyfriend is black, he vehemently condemns the relationship. As America launches its initial invasion of Iraq, Jasira finds herself caught up in a potentially explosive situation that is only compounded by her raging hormones and the snooping of her pregnant, busybody neighbor. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Summer Bishil, Peter Macdissi, (more)
- 2003
Although Six Feet Under often dwells on death -- such as this week's depiction of a scenic designer named Kevin Lamb (Dennis Christopher) who stages his lover's funeral as a miniature opera -- "Nobody Sleeps" also revolves around the birthday of the Fisher matriarch. Electrified by her daring, naughty new friend Bettina (Kathy Bates), Ruth (Frances Conroy) loosens up a little and actually has some fun on her special day. Part of that is thanks to Lisa (Lili Taylor), who, despite the objections of husband Nate (Peter Krause), manages to throw a lovely and somewhat rowdy party for her mother-in-law. Even David (Michael C. Hall) has fun, despite his continuing troubles with Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), which have been thrown into sharp relief by Kevin's elaborate tribute to his late partner. The only person to miss the festivities is Claire (Lauren Ambrose). She's busy having the night of her life getting drunk and talking trash with her pal Russell (Ben Foster), her art teacher Olivier (Peter MacDissi) and one of Olivier's big-wig artist friends. A drunken Nate, also enjoys some rambling conversation -- with the taunting specter of his stultified father (Richard Jenkins), whom Nate fears he's becoming. Originally broadcast March 23, 2003, on HBO, "Nobody Sleeps" marked season three, episode four of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2003
With Lisa (Lili Taylor) still missing, mortality hangs heavily in the air as Six Feet Under begins its third-season finale. Simultaneously, however, romantic and sexual liaisons spring -- and cling -- to life. Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) enjoys a chaste, quirky date with a sexy neighbor, while Federico (Freddy Rodriguez) finds solace from his marital problems in the arms of a stripper, David (Michael C. Hall) reluctantly agrees to reconcile with Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), and a defiant Ruth (Frances Conroy) decides to marry George (James Cromwell) after all. Her announcement elicits a variety of negative reactions from her children. A distraught Nate (Peter Krause) drips with contempt, while diplomatic David says the timing is just bad. Pouty Claire (Lauren Ambrose) can't believe her mother would try to replace the late Nathaniel (Richard Jenkins) so suddenly. But as Claire embarks on a fanciful tour of the afterlife, her departed father tells her that her hang-ups about the impending nuptials are her own problem. While wandering around the great beyond, Claire encounters a variety of deceased characters -- including, to her surprise, ex-boyfriend Gabe (Eric Balfour) and her own recently aborted child, who's being cared for by Lisa herself. Whether Claire's wanderings are a dream or a visitation, one thing's for certain: Lisa really is dead. Nate receives a fateful phone call confirming that her nearly unidentifiable body has been discovered. Unaware of the news, his siblings reluctantly attend their mother's wedding while Nate drinks himself into a stupor and instigates a bar brawl. Bloody and broken, he nearly drunk-drives to his own death, but instead he turns to the one person he's been fleeing from all season: Brenda. Originally broadcast June 1, 2003, on HBO, "I'm Sorry, I'm Lost" marked season three, episode 13 of the made-for-cable drama. In addition to the show's typical corpse-of-the-week opening, a second white title card eventually appears to announce the death of "Lisa Kimmel Fisher, 1973-2003." ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2003
Given that the opening sequence of each Six Feet Under episode begins with the death of a future Fisher & Sons client, it's rarely a good sign to see a major character appear right after the credits. But exactly two seasons after the series pilot that chronicled his father's death, Nate (Peter Krause) bites the big one -- or does he? After poking around with his ghostly father (Richard Jenkins) in a number of alternate realities in which Nate dies, becomes an invalid, or was never even born, Nate finally settles into a timeline in which he survives his brain surgery, marries Lisa (Lili Taylor) and eases into domesticity. As for the other Fisher siblings, David (Michael C. Hall) ekes out emotional progress with Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) in couples therapy, while Claire (Lauren Ambrose) blows off art-school classes to hang out with a hot, tattooed musician (J.P. Pitoc) whom she meets in a crematory. Meanwhile, family matriarch Ruth (Frances Conroy) enjoys time with her granddaughter but butts heads with her new daughter-in-law over child-rearing methods. On the business side of things, Federico (Freddy Rodriguez) revels in his new role as full partner in the renamed Fisher & Diaz funeral home, while Lisa tries to attend to every whim of her shrill, high-strung movie-producer boss (Catherine O'Hara). As for Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), she's nowhere to be found -- except in the anesthetized dream in which Nate married her instead of Lisa. Originally broadcast March 2, 2003, on HBO, "Perfect Circles" marked season three, episode one of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2002
Some loved ones attempt to recover from their problems, while others struggle not to in this episode of HBO's Six Feet Under. Nikolai (Ed O'Ross) continues to recover from his broken legs, spending eight weeks on the Fisher family couch. But Ruth (Frances Conroy) is annoyed to learn that his injuries are the result of an altercation with the Russian mob. Meanwhile, new outpatient Billy (Jeremy Sisto) gives sister Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) some difficult news about his path to mental health and totally freaks Claire (Lauren Ambrose) out with a bizarre form of art therapy. Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) continues to suffer from ill temper and sleeplessness, but insists to a worried David (Michael C. Hall) that it's not the result of post-traumatic stress from his job (see the episode "The Invisible Women"). Keith, himself, frets about druggie sister Karla (Nicki Micheaux), who promises to go into rehab, but has some disturbing methods of doing so. The biggest medical news of all, however, comes from Lisa (Lili Taylor, originally seen in the episode "Driving Mr. Mossback"), who moves to L.A. and announces to ex-boyfriend Nate (Peter Krause) that she's pregnant. "Someone Else's Eyes" marked season two, episode nine of the made-for-cable drama. Series creator Alan Ball wrote this episode, whose weekly death segment features a businessman killed by the errant lunch box of a high-rise construction worker. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2002
A starlet lives fast, dies young, and leaves a beautiful corpse in the inaugural episode of the second season of HBO's Six Feet Under. As Fisher & Sons attends to the death of an ill-fated actress, Nate (Peter Krause), is haunted by the recent revelation that he has a potentially fatal brain condition -- and by the ever-present phantom of his father (Richard Jenkins), who brings a few friends to this week's vision. Meanwhile, Ruth (Frances Conroy) tries out some self-help ideas to connect with her children, especially David (Michael C. Hall), whom she's just learned is gay. Claire (Lauren Ambrose) reconnects with her erratic boyfriend, Gabe (Eric Balfour). David deals with his unresolved feelings for ex-boyfriend, Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), when he finds himself hanging out with Keith and his lover. The final missing Ecstasy pill (see the episode "Life's Too Short") makes an appearance at a queasy family dinner organized by Ruth and attended by everyone's significant others. But when Claire catches the friends of the deceased starlet snorting her ashes with their cocaine, the one-time crystal meth smoker (see the pilot episode) totally freaks out. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2002
Long-simmering plot threads finally boil over in the second-season finale of HBO's Six Feet Under. The episode opens, atypically, with shots of the Fisher clan, setting up the expectation that one of them will provide the weekly corpse that is the hallmark of the series. Ultimately, though, it's Aaron (Glenn Fitzgerald), a terminally ill friend of Nate (Peter Krause), who dies -- not that Nate, himself, is off the hook. When his AVM worsens and his doctor insists on immediate, life-threatening brain surgery, he finally faces up to telling Ruth (Frances Conroy) about his condition. He also faces Lisa (Lili Taylor) and their newborn child, with whom grandma Ruth has been spending plenty of time. Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) has been spending her time at 12-step meetings for sex addicts. A meeting with ex-fiancé Nate provides plenty of 20/20 hindsight but little resolution, so Brenda skips town on the eve of his surgery. Claire (Lauren Ambrose) ultimately skips out on her own high-school graduation so she and David (Michael C. Hall) can wait with Ruth at the hospital. Beforehand, David finally tells Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) to stop treating him like a doormat and Claire (Lauren Ambrose) comes to terms with the fact that she's probably destined for community college. The only person with much cause to celebrate is Federico (Freddy Rodriguez), who uses his recent insurance windfall to buy his way into a full partnership in Fisher and Sons. As for the funeral home's dear, departed patriarch (Richard Jenkins), his spirit appears repeatedly to Nate, who ends the episode in total limbo -- just like the breathless audience. "The Last Time" marked season two, episode 13 of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2001
A clan of funeral directors buries people and digs up its own family skeletons in this alternately hilarious and disturbing weekly drama created by American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball and broadcast on HBO, home of the similarly grown-up Sex and the City and The Sopranos. Just as the NBC drama Law & Order always starts with a crime, Six Feet Under begins each episode with a death. In the series premiere, we learn that patriarch Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins) owns and operates a suburban Los Angeles funeral home called Fisher and Sons, although the older of his two boys, Nate Jr. (Peter Krause), has long since flown the coop to Seattle (where he works in a food co-op) to stay far away from his family. On the way to pick Nate up from the airport for a holiday visit in a brand-new hearse, Nathaniel dies in a horrific traffic accident -- providing the first of many corpses Fisher and Sons will bury over the course of the show's first season. As the series progresses, this highly repressed family's problems compete for screen time with the grief of their clients, whose deceased loved ones include a yuppie swindler, a Latino gang member, an innocent toddler, and a couple of old ladies.
As for the family itself, it consists of high-strung widow Ruth (Frances Conroy), who began an affair shortly before her husband's death; uptight younger son David (Michael C. Hall), who gave up law school and the chance to be open about his homosexuality in order to please his father and take over the straight-laced family business; kid sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose), whose experiences with sex and drugs overshadow her intelligence and sensitivity; and the easygoing, sometimes flaky Nate, who decides to move home, help with the funeral parlor, and begin a romance with enigmatic massage therapist Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). In addition to Jenkins, who appears frequently as the ghost, or at least the memory, of Nathaniel Fisher, the supporting cast of Six Feet Under includes Freddy Rodriguez as a restorative artist who loves truly gruesome challenges; Garrison Hershberger as the corporate robber-baron who wants to take over Fisher and Sons; Jeremy Sisto as Brenda's bipolar brother and Nate's nemesis; and Ed Begley Jr., Mathew St. Patrick, and Eric Balfour as the romantic interests of various family members. As soon as it began its 13-episode inaugural season on June 3, 2001, Six Feet Under earned a deafeningly-positive critical reaction matched only by its popularity with the viewers who flock to HBO for its edgy, commercial-free, original programming. Although the show was criticized by some for its shallow political correctness, it earned almost universal praise for its mixture of black humor, offbeat soap-opera theatrics, and mournful beauty. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
As for the family itself, it consists of high-strung widow Ruth (Frances Conroy), who began an affair shortly before her husband's death; uptight younger son David (Michael C. Hall), who gave up law school and the chance to be open about his homosexuality in order to please his father and take over the straight-laced family business; kid sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose), whose experiences with sex and drugs overshadow her intelligence and sensitivity; and the easygoing, sometimes flaky Nate, who decides to move home, help with the funeral parlor, and begin a romance with enigmatic massage therapist Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). In addition to Jenkins, who appears frequently as the ghost, or at least the memory, of Nathaniel Fisher, the supporting cast of Six Feet Under includes Freddy Rodriguez as a restorative artist who loves truly gruesome challenges; Garrison Hershberger as the corporate robber-baron who wants to take over Fisher and Sons; Jeremy Sisto as Brenda's bipolar brother and Nate's nemesis; and Ed Begley Jr., Mathew St. Patrick, and Eric Balfour as the romantic interests of various family members. As soon as it began its 13-episode inaugural season on June 3, 2001, Six Feet Under earned a deafeningly-positive critical reaction matched only by its popularity with the viewers who flock to HBO for its edgy, commercial-free, original programming. Although the show was criticized by some for its shallow political correctness, it earned almost universal praise for its mixture of black humor, offbeat soap-opera theatrics, and mournful beauty. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 2001
The funeral of a porn star creates an uncomfortable situation for Ruth (Frances Conroy), who doesn't quite know how to cope with the casket-side presence of the dead diva's friends and co-stars. Deciding to spend some more quality time with Claire (Lauren Ambrose), Ruth takes her sullen daughter to visit some cousins, whose wholesome, perpetually cheerful lifestyle serves as even more of a shock than the porn star's funeral. Back at home, David (Michael C. Hall) has yet another argument with Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), this time over David's intent to take over his late father's position as deacon of their church. And Nate (Peter Krause) experiences an uncomfortable family visitation of his own when, sans Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), he has dinner with her parents and a disturbing introduction to her brother Billy (Jeremy Sisto). ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 2001
After he and some fellow deacons are informed that Father Jack has presided over same-sex marriages, David (Michael C. Hall) decides that it's time to make his voice heard at church. Nate (Peter Krause) and Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) get into a bad argument after Brenda visits Billy (Jeremy Sisto) at the institution where he's been committed, and Claire (Lauren Ambrose) realizes that Gabe hasn't rid himself of some bad habits when the two attend a party. Ruth, (Frances Conroy) meanwhile, shuts Hiram out of her life and then makes room for Nikolai. And after dealing with the very anal-retentive Tracy Montrose Blair, who made some very controlling demands for her aunt's funeral, the Fishers get a welcome break when Rico (Freddy Rodriguez) celebrates the christening of his newborn son at the funeral home. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 2001
The premiere episode of the HBO drama Six Feet Under -- which was created by Alan Ball, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of American Beauty -- introduces viewers to the members of the Fisher clan, a family who owns and operates the Fisher and Sons Funeral Home in Los Angeles. After Nathaniel Fisher, the family patriarch, is killed in a Christmas Eve car accident, his wife and children find themselves having to cope with the myriad dramas that have been catalyzed and exacerbated by the tragedy. Chief among these is the homecoming of Nate (Peter Krause), the prodigal son who left the family business to work in Seattle. Upon his return, he discovers that his mother, Ruth (Frances Conroy), has been having an affair with Hiram (Ed Begley Jr.), a hairdresser; his sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose) has been dropping crystal meth; and his brother David (Michael Hall) has been conducting a closeted gay relationship with Keith, a police officer. Nate's one source of relief comes from Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), a woman he met on the flight from Seattle and with whom he quickly finds himself engaging in raunchy broom-closet sex. But their affair -- and the death of Nathaniel -- is overshadowed by both the intentions of a rival funeral company to buy out the family business and the discovery that Nathaniel wasn't exactly the man his family thought it knew. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
Noted theater director Sam Mendes, who was responsible for the acclaimed 1998 revival of Cabaret and Nicole Kidman's turn in The Blue Room, made his motion picture debut with this film about the dark side of an American family, and about the nature and price of beauty in a culture obsessed with outward appearances. Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a man in his mid-40s going through an intense midlife crisis; he's grown cynical and is convinced that he has no reason to go on. Lester's relationship with his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) is not a warm one; while on the surface Carolyn strives to present the image that she's in full control of her life, inside she feels empty and desperate. Their teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is constantly depressed, lacking in self-esteem, and convinced that she's unattractive. Her problems aren't helped by her best friend Angela (Mena Suvari), an aspiring model who is quite beautiful and believes that that alone makes her a worthwhile person. Jane isn't the only one who has noticed that Angela is attractive: Lester has fallen into uncontrollable lust for her, and she becomes part of his drastic plan to change his body and change his life. Meanwhile, next door, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper) has spent a lifetime in the Marine Corps and can understand and tolerate no other way of life, which makes life difficult for his son Ricky (Wes Bentley), an aspiring filmmaker and part-time drug dealer who is obsessed with beauty, wherever and whatever it may be. American Beauty was also the screen debut for screenwriter Alan Ball. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, (more)
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