'Beautiful Boy' tackles drug addiction without 'a Hollywood bow at the end'

WASHINGTON – It’s hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around the fact that addiction is a disease, even the man whose story of being a teenage addict inspired the new drama “Beautiful Boy.”

“I proved it to myself enough that I know it now, but it doesn't make sense,” said Nic Sheff, who’s played by Timothée Chalamet in the upcoming film (in theaters Oct. 12). “Why can't I just drink a glass of wine like my wife can and not need to suddenly be drinking all day long and all night long and then go to crystal meth and heroin?”

Sheff joined his father David (their books about their experiences were the basis for “Beautiful Boy”) and director Felix Van Groeningen for a presentation Tuesday night at the U.S. Navy Memorial. The screening was dedicated to the memory of Scott Sternberg, son of USA TODAY editorial page editor Bill Sternberg, who died last November, and the 72,000 other victims of drug overdoses last year.

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“Beautiful Boy” centers on Nic’s fight with meth addiction, with many recoveries and just as many relapses, as David (played by Steve Carell) attempts to be there for his son in whatever ways possible while also struggling to not neglect the rest of his family.

When the Sheffs were first approached about a movie, David found it scary and admittedly “unthinkable.” He said it was an “anguished experience” for him and Nic writing books on the subject – including his first, 2009's "Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son’s Meth Addiction" – “and sort of opening up to try to tell our story, but at least we had control over it.”

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However, they were impressed with Van Groeningen’s commitment to “showing what it's like without trying to tie it up in a Hollywood bow at the end,” David added.

Growing up in Belgium, the director said he knew people close to his family who wrestled with addiction. “I was young, I experimented with drugs, I could've been like Nic. It didn't happen, but it could have happened. So for a lot of reasons, I felt that it was an important story to tell.”

Nic visited the set on a day when they were filming a scene where his cinematic counterpart confesses to his dad and stepmom (Maura Tierney) about how much he’d been using. 

“Just watching this piece of our life being re-enacted in front of me was so bizarre,” he said. “And then seeing on the big screen, it really felt like a gift to me. It was just like this reminder, like every day I should be so grateful for the fact that I'm alive and that I'm here with my dad and that we are so close.”

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For his father, watching the film “just shook me to my core how close I came to losing him,” said David, who added that while there are more addiction medications and therapies, there still needs to be an “attitudinal shift” when it comes to the ongoing stigma.

“If somebody comes in (the hospital) with any other condition, they take it very seriously," he said. "But if somebody comes in because they've overdosed, they sort of roll their eyes. They put them in the back of the line. … It's hard to treat it, but it is a treatable disease.”

Now 36, Nic Sheff is eight years sober but checks in with his doctor every couple of months, and takes medication for depression and bipolar disorder. “It's a little bit of a hassle,” he said. “But at the same time, it's amazing because I put in the work,  and I get to have this amazing life from it. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.”

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