 DreamWorks contracted Amazon.com to create the official website , marking the first time that Amazon had created a special section devoted to a feature film . The website included an overview , a photo gallery , cast and crew filmographies , and exclusive interviews with Spacey and Bening . The film 's tagline — " look closer " — originally came from a cutting pasted on Lester 's workplace cubicle by the set dresser . DreamWorks ran parallel marketing campaigns and trailers — one aimed at adults , the other at teenagers . Both trailers ended with the poster image of a girl holding a rose . Reviewing the posters of several 1999 films , David Hochman of Entertainment Weekly rated American Beauty 's highly , saying it evoked the tagline ; he said , " You return to the poster again and again , thinking , this time you 're gonna find something . " DreamWorks did not want to test screen the film ; according to Mendes , the studio was pleased with it , but he insisted on one where he could question the audience afterward . The studio reluctantly agreed and showed the film to a young audience in San Jose , California . Mendes claimed the screening went very well . 
