by Ben Miller
After a seemingly endless tease, we finally got the trailer for one of the most anticipated films of the year: Amazon Studio's Beautiful Boy. Based on the memoirs of journalist David Sheff and his son Nic, the film follows David struggling through years of his son's addiction. Oscar-nominated Steve Carell steps into the role of David, while freshly Oscar-nominated Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) plays his son Nic. Let’s dive right in with another addition of Yes, No, Maybe So...
YES
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Love trailers that start out of nowhere! My guess is that this diner scene is at least two-thirds of the way through the film
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Carell looks to be in a quieter grief-stricken dramatic role, like he had in Last Flag Flying last year. If that performance is any indication of what to expect, I am in.
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Chalamet has really turned into a Hollywood wunderkind...
This isn't a disease like cancer. I put myself here.
... Addict roles can easily be overdone, but the 22-year old looks to be making this as human as possible.
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For a film about addiction, the visuals seem very bright. Here's to unexpected color palettes
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Maura Tierney gets a title card! Her recent career resurgence is a welcome surprise thanks to her Golden Globe winning turn in The Affair
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The secondary supporting cast is pretty stacked with LisaGay Hamilton, Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton, The Wire alumnus Andre Royo, plus the consistently great young actress Kaitlyn Dever
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Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing. Plan B has quietly become an awards powerhouse without a glaring blackmark on their resume. They are also producing Adam McKay’s Backseat and James Gray’s Ad Astra currently.
NO
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This is not an actual no, but, confession: I have a son who is almost six, and I cannot handle that little kid repeating “Everything…” over the span of years. Who’s cutting onions in here?!
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The trailer seems to lay the film out pretty clearly, so where is the mystery or the unexpected directions of the addiction-recovery arc?
MAYBE SO
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There seems to be clear parallel stories between David and Nic and these type of duets can suffer from either a lack of balance or a confused point of view. Do we only care about Nic and his addiction journey, or will we be overly invested in David’s journey to help him?
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Is this finally the role that gives Amy Ryan something to do again? She does play Nic’s mother, but perhaps she'll escape the long-suffering wife stock part. The trailer points to her being separated from David with Tierney as Nic's step-mom
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Director Felix Van Groeningen is best known for his Oscar-nominated foreign film nominee The Broken Circle Breakdown from 2012. That film, Nathaniel tells me, also had gut wrenching parent-child drama playing out over a long stretch of time. Good rehearsal for Beautiful Boy?
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Chalamet plays the eldest version of Nic, while Jack Dylan Grazer, Zachary Rifkin and Kue Lawrence play Nic at younger intervals. Moonlight is the best recent example of clear characterization between multiple performances, but will this stack up? That's not easy to pull off well.
I am squarely in the Yes camp and will be adjusting my personal Oscar predictions accordingly. How about you? The film beings its rollout on October 12th.