Beautiful Boy (2018 film)

Beautiful Boy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Felix Van Groeningen
Produced by
Screenplay by
Based on
Starring
Cinematography Ruben Impens
Edited by Nico Leunen
Production
companies
Distributed by Amazon Studios
Release date
  • September 7, 2018 (2018-09-07) (TIFF)
  • October 12, 2018 (2018-10-12) (United States)
Running time
 120 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $25 million[2]
Box office $221,437[3]

Beautiful Boy is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Felix Van Groeningen, in his English-language feature debut. The screenplay, written by Luke Davies and Van Groeningen, is based on the memoirs Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff. It stars Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney and Amy Ryan, and deals with the strained relationship between a father and his teenage son.

Beautiful Boy had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018. It is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on October 12, 2018, by Amazon Studios. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who lauded the performances of Carell, Chalamet and Tierney.[4]

Premise

The film chronicles meth addiction and recovery through the eyes of David Sheff (Steve Carell), who watches his son Nic (Timothée Chalamet) as he struggles with his addiction.

Cast

Production

In 2008, it was announced that Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment had acquired film rights to the books Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by his son Nic Sheff. The studio and producers were announcing that they would use the recently published books to frame a picture about drug addiction from the perspective of a young meth addict and the father who finds himself helpless to stop his son's downward spiral.[5] In 2011, it was announced that writer and director Cameron Crowe had written a script based on the books.[6] One year later, TheWrap announced that Crowe was looking to direct the film from his own script after he had wrapped his romantic film Aloha, with New Regency getting involved in this project after Paramount dropped out.[7] In December 2013, it was reported that Mark Wahlberg was circling the project to play the role of the father with Crowe directing.[8]

In 2015, Variety announced that Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen had taken over as director with a new script written by Australian writer Luke Davies.[9] In January 2017, it was revealed that Steve Carell and Will Poulter were attached to star in the project, as the father and son, respectively. Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Brad Pitt were announced as the main producers.[10] In February 2017, it was officially announced that Timothée Chalamet was cast in the film as Nic Sheff, opposite Carell who will play his father.[11] Van Groeningen said that out of more than 200 tapes he received from actors auditioning for the role of Nic, Chalamet immediately stood out: "While we deliberately did not choose a [well-known actor] at the time of the auditions, because there is less burden, now of course, its great", he added, "Nobody had foreseen that he would suddenly become world-famous, but it is completely deserved. If [his fame] can help bring young people to the cinema, I can only applaud it."[2] In March 2017, Amy Ryan, Maura Tierney, Kaitlyn Dever, Timothy Hutton, and LisaGay Hamilton joined the cast of the film.[12][13][14][15][16] In April 2017, Andre Royo joined the cast of the film.[17] Prior to filming, Van Groeningen arranged for two weeks of rehearsals with the cast, a common practice in Flemish productions but not in Hollywood.[2]

Filming

Principal photography began on March 27, 2017 and shot through May 2017 in around Los Angeles and San Francisco.[18][19] The first scenes shot for the film were the most intense, according to Van Groeningen, and involved Chalamet's character being hospitalized for a drug-overdose.[2] Chalamet was instructed to lose weight a couple weeks before the filming of the "hospitalization scenes", and subsequently rested to recover in order to complete the rest of the shoot. Chalamet has stated that there were numerous "doctor visits" and "close calls" during the shoot, saying "Your mind knows you're acting. But when you drop twenty pounds and you are under a rain machine for eight takes in a T-shirt—your body doesn't know you're acting."[20]

The editing of the film took 7 months in total, during which the movie was completely recut multiple times. Initially Nico Leunen, Van Groeningen's long-time collaborator, was not involved in the project; however, Van Groeningen became dissatisfied with the editing process and brought Leunen to Los Angeles to construct the film.[2]

Release

It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018.[21][22] It is scheduled to be released in the United States on October 12, 2018.[23]

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, "Beautiful Boy sees Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell delivering showcase work that's often powerful enough to make up for the story's muted emotional impact."[24] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[25]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref(s)
Hollywood Film Awards November 4, 2018 Hollywood Supporting Actor Award Timothée Chalamet Won [26]

References

  1. ↑ "Beautiful Boy". Angelika Film Center. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Devos, Thalisa; Ceulemans, Ewoud (June 15, 2018). "Felix Van Groeningen: "In Hollywood mag je niet laten merken dat je twijfelt, anders ben je dood"". De Morgen (in Dutch). Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Beautiful Boy (2018)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Christopher (September 8, 2018). "Beautiful Boy First Reviews: An Authentic, Powerfully Acted Portrait of Addiction". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  5. ↑ Fleming, Michael (29 April 2008). "Par, Plan B addicted to memoir pair". Variety.
  6. ↑ Dang, Simon (January 14, 2011). "Cameron Crowe Had A Script About Meth Addict Nic Sheff Rejected By Brad Pitt's Plan B Shingle?". IndieWire. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  7. ↑ Foreman, Liza (August 24, 2012). "Cameron Crowe Moving Forward With 'Beautiful Boy' (Exclusive)". TheWrap. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  8. ↑ Jagernauth, Kevin (December 12, 2013). "Mark Wahlberg Eyes Cameron Crowe's Meth Addict Drama 'Beautiful Boy'". IndieWire. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  9. ↑ Kroll, Justin (September 22, 2015). "Felix van Groeningen to Direct 'Beautiful Boy' for New Regency and Plan B (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Steve Carrell, Will Poulter Eyed to star in Brad Pitt-produced drama 'Beautiful Boy'". Tracking-Board.com. January 18, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  11. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (February 6, 2017). "Sundance Breakout Timothee Chalamet Joining Steve Carell in 'Beautiful Boy' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  12. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (March 15, 2017). "Amy Ryan Reunites With Steve Carell For Amazon's 'Beautiful Boy'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  13. ↑ Fleming Jr, Mike (March 16, 2017). "'The Affair's Maura Tierney Joins Amazon's 'Beautiful Boy'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  14. ↑ Kit, Borys (March 22, 2017). "Kaitlyn Dever Joins Steve Carell in Amazon Drama 'Beautiful Boy' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  15. ↑ Fleming Jr, Mike (March 28, 2017). "Timothy Hutton Joins Amazon Studios' 'Beautiful Boy'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  16. ↑ N'Duka, Amanda (March 30, 2017). "LisaGay Hamilton Books 'Beautiful Boy' & 'The Last Full Measure'; 'Most Likely To Murder' Adds More Suspects". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  17. ↑ Busch, Anita (April 13, 2017). "Hannah John-Kamen Joins 'Tomb Raider' Cast; Andre Royo Steps Into Amazon's 'Beautiful Boy'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Beautiful Boy". MyEntertainmentWorld. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  19. ↑ Scerrato, Alisa (May 12, 2017). "Spotted: Steve Carell shooting 'Beautiful Boy' in the Upper Haight". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  20. ↑ Josh Horowitz (December 8, 2017). "Happy Sad Confused" (Podcast). MTV. Event occurs at 50:03-50:17. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Beautiful Boy". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  22. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (July 24, 2018). "Toronto: Timothee Chalamet Starrer 'Beautiful Boy,' Dan Fogelman's 'Life Itself' Among Festival Lineup". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  23. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 15, 2018). "Steve Carell & Timothée Chalamet Title 'Beautiful Boy' Sets Fall Release". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Beautiful Boy (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Beautiful Boy reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  26. ↑ Kilday, Gregg (October 11, 2018). "Timothee Chalamet, Rachel Weisz Tapped for Hollywood Film Award Honors". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
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