‘PIECES’ OF PAIN
Film goes deep into addiction, redemption
The upcoming drama “A Million Little Pieces,” based on the 2003 book by James Frey, gives an eye-opening look at the true pain of addiction — and hope.
The film begins with Frey, played by Aaron TaylorJohnson, intoxicated, out of control and in the midst of a bender. He wakes up the next morning, head pounding and face bloodied, on a plane with no idea how he got there or where he’s going. Yet he still tries to order a drink.
From there, his struggle continues.
“A big thing in (Alcoholics Anonymous) is one day at a time, and that every day is a struggle,” Taylor-Johnson, 29, told the Daily News. “It doesn’t matter if you’re 26 years down the road. You’re still counting the days of sobriety. You’re still fighting this uphill struggle.”
Directed by Sam TaylorJohnson, the movie out Friday follows Frey’s fight with drug and alcohol addiction and his efforts to get sober during an emotional stay at rehab. Making the film was a longtime dream for Sam, who co-wrote the script with Aaron, her husband.
Frey’s book became a bestseller after it was featured by Oprah Winfrey’s book club in 2005. Months later, it became the subject of controversy when it was revealed Frey had embellished elements of his story, much to Winfrey’s disappointment.
“When I first read the book back when it came out, I just remember how it just completely shifted me,” Sam, 52, told The News. “I loved the journey that I went on, in terms of a journey which took you into darkness and took you into a very deep place, but ultimately kind of, I thought, offered hope.”
The Taylor-Johnsons acknowledge the Oprah situation at the beginning of their film with a quote from Mark Twain. Sam, 52, says the saga never impacted the way the book affected her, and that she and her husband wanted to treat the film as an adaptation of the story in the book rather than as a documentary.
To better understand the character he was portraying, Aaron — who played the titular hero in the “Kick-Ass” movies and earned a 2017 Golden Globe for “Nocturnal Animals” — met with the real Frey and went with him to the treatment center he attended.
“We had to be respectful and responsible with the material of AA facilities and the approach that they take, 12 steps,” Aaron said. “Especially with a character who pushes it away and is very reluctant to change and is cynical and is completely against the 12 steps. He kind of goes through it on his own terms and almost whiteknuckles it, essentially, which is not the idea or the approach that these rehabilitation facilities want you to do. So it’s a very rare case in that respect.”
Aaron says Sam began talking about “A Million Little Pieces” shortly after they made 2009’s “Nowhere Boy,” which Sam directed and Aaron starred in as a young John Lennon.
The rights to Frey’s book belonged to different studios over the years, but when they became available, the Johnson-Taylors — who were eager to make a second movie together — jumped on the opportunity.
Their upcoming film, which also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Juliette Lewis and Charlie Hunnam, hits theaters in 10 states, including New York, and also becomes available on video-on-demand this Friday.
The filmmakers are hopeful their movie will have a positive impact.
“I tried … making this movie as much as possible that you come away filled with hope and that there’s a supportive community out there that can be reached,” Sam said. “It’s within an arm’s reach, and not such a distant thing.”