What makes a winner? Salon takes a look at Dreamworks’ eight-month-long “American Beauty” publicity campaign, beginning with Bernard Weinraub’s glowing hype in the “New York Times” last July (a full three months before the film’s release). The day after the studio took home the Oscar, the “Times” congratulated the Dreamworks team for their successful orchestration of all the buzz surrounding the movie. “No one mentioned the powerful newspaper columnist who’d in effect played first violin.” – Salon 3/30/00