Question: Which film has the director born first, In Enemy Country or American Beauty (1999 Film)?

In Enemy Country is a 1968 American action film directed by Harry Keller and starring Anthony Franciosa, Anjanette Comer and Guy Stockwell. During World War II a group of Allied agents are sent on a secret mission to German-occupied France to destroy a dangerous new weapon. The film's art direction was by John Beckman and Alexander Golitzen. <SEP> Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, an advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, played by Mena Suvari. Annette Bening stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, and Allison Janney also feature. Academics have described the film as a satire of American middle- class notions of beauty and personal satisfaction; further analysis has focused on the film's explorations of romantic and paternal love, sexuality, materialism, self- liberation, and redemption. Ball began writing" American Beauty" as a play in the early 1990s, partly inspired by the media circus that accompanied the Amy Fisher trial in 1992. He shelved the play after realizing the story would not work on stage. After several years as a television screenwriter, Ball revived the idea in 1997 when attempting to break into the film industry. The rewritten script had a cynical outlook influenced by Ball's frustrating tenures writing for several sitcoms. Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen took the script for" American Beauty" to the fledgling DreamWorks studio, which bought it for$ 250,000, outbidding several other production bodies. DreamWorks financed the$ 15 million production and served as its North American distributor. " American Beauty" marked acclaimed theater director Mendes' film debut; courted after his successful productions of the musicals" Oliver!" and" Cabaret", Mendes was nevertheless only given the job after twenty others were considered and several A- list directors reportedly turned down the opportunity. Spacey was Mendes' first choice for the role of Lester, though DreamWorks urged him to consider better- known actors. Similarly, the studio suggested several actresses for the role of Carolyn until Mendes offered the part to Bening without the studio's knowledge. Principal photography took place between December 1998 and February 1999 on sound stages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California and on location in Los Angeles. Mendes' dominant directorial style was deliberate and composed; he made extensive use of static shots and slow pans and zooms to generate tension. Cinematographer Conrad Hall complemented Mendes' style with peaceful shot compositions to contrast with the turbulent on- screen events. American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes, in his feature directorial debut. During editing, Mendes made several changes that softened the cynical tone of Ball's script. Released in North America on September 17, 1999," American Beauty" was positively received by critics and audiences; it was the best- reviewed American film of the year and grossed over$ 350 million worldwide. Reviewers praised most aspects of the production, mainly the acting performances( particularly those of Spacey, Benning, and Cooper), as well as Mendes ’ Direction and the themes of the film; criticism tended to focus on the familiarity of the characters and setting. DreamWorks launched a major campaign to increase" American Beauty" s chances of Oscar success; at the 2000 ceremony the film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor( for Spacey), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. The film was nominated for and won many other awards and honors, mainly for directing, writing and acting. <SEP> Harry Keller( 22 February 1913 – 19 January 1987) was an American film editor, producer and director, who made a number of westerns and worked for many years at Universal Pictures. He is perhaps best remembered today for shooting additional footage on" Touch of Evil"( 1958). <SEP> He also is known for dark re-inventions of the stage musicals" Cabaret"( 1994)," Oliver!"( 1994)," Company"( 1995), and" Gypsy"( 2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with" Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"( 2013). For directing the play" The Ferryman", Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019. Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes( born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter, best known for his directoral debut film" American Beauty"( 1999), which earned him the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the crime film" Road to Perdition"( 2002) the James Bond films" Skyfall"( 2012) and" Spectre"( 2015), and the war film" 1917"( 2019). In 2000 Mendes was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for" services to drama" and in the same year was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 2008" The Daily Telegraph" ranked him number 15 in their list of the" 100 most powerful people in British culture". <SEP> Wale Adebanwi( born 1969) is a Nigerian- born first Black Rhodes Professor at St Antony's College, Oxford. <SEP> Christopher Greenbury( September 24, 1951 – January 4, 2007) was an English film editor with more than thirty film credits dating from 1979's" The Muppet Movie". With Tariq Anwar, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for" American Beauty"( 1999), which he was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing. " American Beauty" is a serious drama, but in general Greenbury edited comedy films, including six directed by the Farrelly brothers commencing with 1994's" Dumb and Dumber". Greenbury was a member of the American Cinema Editors( ACE).