And Now For The 'Beauty' Part

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By David Ansen

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Dressed like a Bible salesman, with a gaze that seems to look right through you and an inner calm that's either beatific or sinister, Ricky Fitts, the visionary dope-dealer-next-door in "American Beauty," was a part coveted by young actors in Hollywood. But no one knew who Wes Bentley was when he walked in to meet with director Sam Mendes. Now, no one is likely to forget him.

Bentley had been handed the script by his newly acquired agent. "I was just blown away. I knew I had to meet the director. I didn't want him to see me on tape. I had to show him that I understood the feeling of this script," the 21-year-old actor says. "There was something about this movie. We got lucky on this one." Suddenly Bentley finds that he's no longer the pursuer, but the pursued. The scripts are coming his way--most of them, inevitably, "dark and haunting."

Born in Jonesboro, Ark., Bentley went to high school in North Little Rock, then spent a year studying at Julliard. A casting director spotted him (with spiked blond hair and a goatee) in an audition line, and he landed the lead in "a real low-budget independent movie." It's never seen the light of day. "White River Kid," in which Bentley plays a serial killer opposite Antonio Banderas's con man, is on the verge of a distribution deal. Bentley's newfound fame should speed that right along.

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