San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Rising star takes on darker role
Timothée Chalamet will be at the Mill Valley Film Festival at 3 p.m. on Oct. 6 at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, where “Beautiful Boy” will screen. The film will show again at 2 p.m. on Oct. 8 at the Sequoia in Mill Valley without Chalamet in attendance. boxoffice@ cafilm.org memoir by Sheff’s father, Bay Area journalist David Sheff, from which the movie takes its title. Chalamet was unknown when he tried out to play Nic. “I went through an arduous auditioning process,” he said. After three callbacks he was asked to read with Steve Carell, already cast as Nic’s loving but helpless dad.
“I am a huge fan of ‘The Office,’ ” Chalamet said of Carell’s popular TV series. “I use to lie in bed with my dad and we would just binge-watch it. When I found out I would be auditioning with Steve, I went, ‘OK, I don’t want to freak this guy out with my fandom.’ ”
Carell immediately recognized the depth of Chalamet’s talent, and the two bonded almost like father and son during the making of the film. Asked if he had mentored his young co-star, Carell said, “He doesn’t need my advice.”
Chalamet felt an urgency about doing “Beautiful Boy.” “It’s a story that needed to be told . ... It could happen to anyone regardless of gender or age or class. It does not discriminate.”
Growing up in New York, he was aware of drug problems at a young age. “My friend Leon and I took the subway when we were 11 and weren’t supposed to yet. I saw what drugs had done to people. At the very least there was an awareness of what life can offer you in the worst ways possible.”
He knows people who were tempted to experiment with drugs and credits his parents for his decision not to go that route. “I have a lot of gratitude for my parents and the way they raised me. They were very clear