Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction

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Other memoirs that cover similar topics of addiction and family relationships include A Very Fine House by Barbara Cofer Stoefen, Drunk Mom by Jowita Bydlowska, The Lost Years by Kristina Wandzilak, and Addict in the Family, by Beverly Conyers—the last of which Sheff mentions in Beautiful Boy. Nic's second book, titled We All Fall Down, was published in 2011 and focuses on his ongoing efforts to stay clean as he suffers relapses and is in and out of rehab centers. The next few years of his life are defined by time in rehab, often relatively long periods of recovery, and then relapses.

In January 2017, it was reported that Steve Carell and Will Poulter were attached to star in the project, as the father and son, respectively. Actress Maura Tierney portrays David's wife, artist Karen Barbour, and Amy Ryan plays Nic's mother, Vicki. A resource for middle-school readers offering clear, direct information about the realities of drugs and alcohol, it is Sheff and his son Nic's first collaborative project. He looks at his divorce, his own history of drug abuse, and his initially lenient attitude to Nic’s drug use. When not beguiled by the next image of upwardly nubile flesh, sumptuously reproduced from the work of the world's great visual artists, you're more at risk of being left stupefied by the next authorial assertion.

It was the first time I’d faced the reality that it wasn’t only a miracle that Nic survived his addiction. At the time Beautiful Boy is written, there are 35 million meth users globally, compared with 15 million for cocaine and 7 million for heroine. David flies there to retrieve him, and after talking to his ex-wife and Nic's mother Vicki, he decides Nic should be sent to live with her in Los Angeles. David uses many of these facts to bolster his argument that the government needs to better its policies toward both drugs and addiction more broadly, to mitigate the ongoing epidemic.

I thought if I could only do enough of whatever drug it was, I would eventually feel whole—no longer like the alien. 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 both a young meth addict and the father who finds himself helpless to stop his son's downward spiral.Beautiful Boy had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018, with the cast and director in attendance, along with David and Nic Sheff making a surprise appearance after the premiere. This supersensitive and tasteful movie is all but insufferable, suppressing a sob at the tragedy of drug addiction afflicting someone so young and “beautiful”.

He attends 12 step meetings, spends time with his sponsor Spencer, and even works at a drug clinic to help newer patients overcome their addiction. David Sheff's work has appeared in the New York Times, Outside, Rolling Stone, Wired, Fortuneand elsewhere. Jasper Sheff is a Grammy Award-nominated [21] musician who has cowritten and produced songs [22] for Lil Nas X, Elton John, [23] Halsey and XXXTentacion. David Sheff's lengthy experience as a journalist includes writing for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Fortune, Wired and NPR.As he departs from their home, however, Nic has a sudden surge of depression, resents his sobriety, and fears relapsing. When he learns Nic has gone missing again, David prepares to look for him, but Karen protests that he has done everything he can for Nic, and he cannot do anything to fix his addiction, which David heartbrokenly accepts. Luckily, he recovers, and David helps him check into Hazelden, another rehabilitation program in New York. I guess what I can offer you is this: As you’re growing up, whenever you need me—to talk or just whatever—I’ll be able to be there for you now. The beautiful and damned in question is his son, Nic Sheff ( Timothée Chalamet), a high school senior with everything ahead of him; smart, well-liked and with a stable, loving family.