'Beautiful Boy' trailer: Steve Carrell and Timothée Chalamet deliver powerful performances as troubled father-son duo
Amazon Studios has dropped its trailer for 'Beautiful Boy' starring Academy Award-nominated Steve Carrell and Timothée Chalamet in the titular roles of father-son duo David Sheff and Nic Sheff. Based on David Sheff's heartwrenching memoir 'Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction' and 'Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamine,' by Nic, the movie is already generating a significant buzz and has been touted as a serious contender at next year's Oscars.
Produced by Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, who won Academy Awards for '12 Years a Slave' and 'Moonlight,' as well as Brad Pitt, an official description for the film reads: "Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years."
The two-minute trailer provides a brief but introspective look at what will be acclaimed Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen's first feature-length English film. It unspools with David conversing with his son at a diner with Nic accusing his father of wanting to control every aspect of his life. As it proceeds, we get to the crux of the film — David's emotional upheaval and angst in comprehending his son's debilitating meth addiction, an existential question of whether he has failed as a father, and a primal urge to be there to help Nic get through his struggles.
The trailer also showcases Chalamet's transformation from a doting big brother and daddy's boy, the apple of his parents' eye, and a religious participant of all family activities, to a young adult disillusioned with the throes of life who finds solace in methamphetamine.
Chalamet revealed the extent of the transformation he had to undergo for the role during a conversation with Interview Magazine in 2017, explaining how he had to lose a lot of weight to 'help accurately capture the dark stages of the drug' and that he felt like 'the luckiest kid in the world' working with Steve Carrell.
He also spoke about his weight loss in more detail to Newsweek, saying: "I’ve never given myself more to any project in my life. I lost 20 pounds to do it because I’m playing a methamphetamine addict. I got to work with Steve Carell for two or three months. Similar to 'Call Me By Your Name,' we really gave it everything, we laid it all on the line. It’s a really powerful and moving memoir."
'Beautiful Boy' also stars Academy Award-nominee Amy Ryan as Vicki Sheff, Nic's mother, and Maura Tierney, Kaitlyn Dever, Andre Royo, Timothy Hutton, LisaGay Hamilton, and Stefanie Scott in supporting roles. Guaranteed to draw a few wet cheeks through its duration, there does, however, seem to be a happy ending to the story.
The project, which has been in the works for over a decade, is currently slated for an October 12, 2018 release by Amazon Studios.