We Bought a Zoo director Cameron Crowe has lined up another directing gig for himself, a film adaptation of David Sheff’s novel Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction. The story centers on a family dealing with their son’s meth addiction.
According to The Wrap, "Crowe’s script is a 'meditation' on both 'Beautiful Boy' and the related memoir written by Sheff’s son, Nic Sheff, about his own experience on drugs, 'Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.'" The title of the film, Beautiful Boy, refers to the classic song that John Lennon wrote for his son Sean in 1980. Apparently David Sheff was inspired to start a family after conducting the last major interview with Lennon before he was killed in New York in 1980.
Crowe is looking to direct this movie once he's finished with the untitled romantic comedy that he's currently developing. That movie will star Emma Stone, and is believed to be a movie he was working on before he made We Bought a Zoo, called Deep Tiki.
Beautiful Boy sounds like it will be a very intense drama. I'm a huge fan of Crowe and his filmmaking skills. He knows how to tell a great story and does a wonderful job of capturing the emotions of his characters. Cameron is the right person to tell this story, and he'll do a great job.
Here's a description of the book:
Sheffs story is a first: a teenager s addiction from the parent s point of view a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope. Before meth, Sheff s son Nic was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs, the denial (by both child and parents), the three A.M. phone calls (is it Nic? the police? the hospital?), the attempts at rehab, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict s fate, the rest of the family must care for each other too, lest they become addicted to addiction. Meth is the fastest-growing drug in the United States, as well as the most addictive and the most dangerous wreaking permanent brain damage faster than any other readily available drug. It has invaded every region and demographic in America. This book is the first that treats meth and its impact in depth. But it is not just about meth. Nic s addiction has wrought the same damage that any addiction will wreak. His story, and his father s, are those of any family that contains an addict and one in three American families does.