Do you remember the film “American Beauty?” It was about a guy who worked in telesales but grew weary of his very existence. He longed for a little excitement and change in his life. This led him to begin making changes to awaken his senses through a variety of different experiences. As he began to awaken internally, it had an effect on his wife and their daughter. It was more of a mood generating film than plot-based, and this is perhaps what made it such a blockbuster, winning an Academy Award for Best Picture Award for its 1999 release. Did you know that Christina Hendricks was in American Beauty? It’s been 20 years since the release of the film and it just came to our attention that just one part of her body was shown in an advertisement for the film and you’ll be shocked to learn what part it was. Although you won’t find her name on the credits you do see her in the posters for the film.
Look at the poster
Our first hint is to take a long hard look at the poster for “American Beauty.” It shows a rose placed upon a woman’s belly, with a hand holding the stem of the flower. Everyone just naturally assumed that the woman posing for the poster shot was the co-star Mena Suvari, and this wasn’t clarified until now. As it turns out, this wasn’t her at all. In fact, it wasn’t just one person. A model posed for the belly shot, and Christina who was also a hand model at the time, supplied her hand for the shot, so the photographers used two models for the poster. Hendricks actually had to placer her hand on the stomach of another model because the powers that were decided that the belly model’s hands weren’t a suitable match, however, her body was.
A lucky break for Hendricks
Christina is best known for her role in “Good Girls” and it was she who broke the silence about the poster. It’s unclear if there was any connection to the two, but the year that she posed for the photo was the same year that her acting career took a turn for the better. She snagged the Showtime series “Beggars and Choosers” lead role and was never out of work. You can honestly say that she gave the cast and crew a hand with the film and its advertisement, and you would be telling the truth.
The best-kept secret
The fact that Christina’s hand was in the famous poster was never revealed until she decided to break her silence. It’s like one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets. Her friends and co-workers were all shocked and astounded when they saw her Instagram message. This is the kind of thing that may be trivial to some, but it’s a big deal to others. All this time, she didn’t breathe a word about it, so when she finally let it out, it created quite a stir. We don’t think that Hendricks was trying to hide this from anybody, but at what point do you blurt out “my hand is on the poster for “American Beauty?” She finally said something and when she did it opened up a new interest in the film and discussions about some of the bizarre things that advertising agents do to make sure that they’re getting the best results from their posters and pitches to draw in a healthy crowd for the release of a new film.
Enlightenment
While it may seem like just a hand holding a flower or just a bare midriff, the poster is actually much more. It gives us a real glimpse into how things are done in Hollywood down to the small details. Who would have ever thought that the poster would require the use of two models to achieve what the creative artists involved would consider being perfection? The belly model’s hands weren’t satisfactory and we’re assuming they preferred it over Christina’s so they simply took the best from each girl and went with it. It’s a bit on the bizarre side, to say the least, but in Hollywood, they do pay attention to minutia and some of the creative design artists will not settle for anything they feel is below their standards. It’s interesting the lengths that they will go to in getting things just right, and they do so down to tiny little details. Now we have a better idea of how things are done. It’s unclear just who the stomach model is but it would be nice to find out.
Final thoughts
Christina Hendricks had the honor of being involved in a blockbuster film before she even had her first lucky break in Hollywood. You can say that she gave them a hand with advertising, but it wasn’t in the traditional sense. For two decades, few people knew that she was a model who’s hand was featured holding a rose on the belly of another model for the advertisements for “American Beauty.” She revealed her well-kept secret over social media in a post, and those who saw it were truly amazed and shocked at the news. It might seem like a small detail to the average person, but for anyone in the entertainment business, it’s a huge deal. The advertisement has been seen nationally as well as throughout the world, with everyone assuming that it was the photo of the co-star of the film’s belly and hand, but neither assumption was correct. instead, two female models supplied their body parts for the image on the poster. Christina held the rose, fulfilling her end of the deal because she was a hand model and let’s face it, she has lovely hands. This is an interesting little bit of trivia that we thought you’d enjoy knowing about.
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