Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet debut emotional scene from Beautiful Boy

Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet helped debut the first look at their upcoming film Beautiful Boy on Thursday at CinemaCon, showcasing an emotional scene from the tale about a father’s heartbreaking insight into his son’s methamphetamine addiction.

Amazon Studios’ Beautiful Boy, directed by Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen, is adapted from the best-selling memoir of the same name by author David Sheff documenting his family’s journey dealing with his son Nic’s meth addiction, and Tweak, Nic Sheff’s own memoir of how his addiction affected his life and his relationship with his family.

“Both books are incredibly impactful,” Carell said. “They were both stunning in [the] sense that I think the movie tries to depict this and I think does a really good job. There are no easy answers; it’s not presented as the cinematic version of this problem or this relationship. It feels very true to me, and very real,” he added.

The scene shown sees Carell’s David Sheff sitting in a booth at a cafe, waiting for his son Nic (Chalamet). As he waits, there are flashbacks to his younger self sitting in the same booth in the same cafe, opposite Nic as a child, as he tries to teach his son how to speak Klingon.

He snaps out of his reveries when Nic arrives, and they share a tender, loving hug. As father and son catch up, David asks Nic how he’s doing and says he can’t give him any more money, but asks him to reconsider his choices and come home. Nic says he has been sober for a few days, but his temper flares quickly as he lashes out at David, who tries to stay calm — both trying to contend with the fractures that Nic’s addiction is ripping into their relationship.

Carell praised Chalamet as “one of the most profound young people I’ve ever met.” The Oscar-nominated actor tuned into the presentation from London via Skype but his audio kept cutting out, which led the him to exclaim, “Oh s—!” — and left the audience laughing.

“He’s the best, by the way,�� Carell said as he gazed up at Chalamet’s face on the big stage screen. “I just smile when I see his face.”

So do we, Steve. So do we.