Felix Van Groeningen’s critically acclaimed movie, Beautiful Boy, starring Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell has been one of the most emotionally jarring films of all time, dealing with father-son relationship while addressing the honest struggles of drug addiction. However, while the onscreen elements of the film seemed dark and depressing, there was one element of fun to the film’s production.
It was Timothée Chalamet’s undying love and affection for Steve Carell’s The Office, that kept things light on set for people involved in the production. To be fair, it’s not surprising to learn that Carell and Chalamet would seek out a bit of levity while making the tough material that not only tells the visceral story about drug addiction but is based on a true story about a real family.
Timothée Chalamet Relived His Love for The Office After Working with Steve Carell
They say never meet your heroes in real life, but Timothée Chalamet would beg to differ. Because for the Dune star, working with Steve Carell on Felix Van Groeningen’s Beautiful Boy, was one of his best experiences. Why won’t it be, given how Chalamet has been a die-hard fan of the hit sitcom The Office?
According to Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell’s interview with IndieWire, the Little Women actor revealed how excited he was to work with Carell on Beautiful Boy. While the material of the film was emotionally taxing and mentally jarring for the stars, Chalamet mentioned how The Office served as an escapism for them.
I think I didn’t want to scare Steve away. [Chalamet watched The Office] on Xbox Live, because Netflix made itself available as an app on Xbox, and this was before the smart TVs and everything.
My dad would be kind of amazed that on my video game console, I could just pull up Netflix… I’m talking when I was 13, 14, 15. So it was kind of like at the forefront of it.
Revealing how he got the habit of watching The Office and gradually developed a deep-seated love for the show, Timothée Chalamet implied being a massive Michael Scott fan. And that’s why, although discussing the show helped him break the ice with Steve Carell, the actor admitted that he didn’t want to scare away Carell with his fanboy behavior.
Timothée Chalamet Recalled His Experience Working with His The Office Icons
Eventually, even Steve Carell joined the conversation alongside Timothée Chalamet claiming how they both used The Office as a way of finding joy while working on something so dark and heartbreaking as Beautiful Boy. Considering how the film follows the real-life father-and-son duo David and Nic Sheff as they struggle with the son’s losing battle with drug addiction, Carell and Chalamet seemed right to look for hope in the sitcom.
But apart from Timothée Chalamet’s love for the show and Steve Carell’s appearance in the sitcom, the duo weren’t the only people related to The Office. There was also Amy Ryan, who played Michael Scott’s goofy partner Holly on the show. And in Felix Van Groeningen’s 2018 drama, Ryan once again appeared as Carell’s onscreen wife, Vicki Sheff.
Therefore, having both Michael and Holly on the set of Beautiful Boy seemed like a dream come true for Timothée Chalamet. Addressing how excited he was to work with the duo, the Ladybird actor mentioned a few of the discussions he overheard between Amy Ryan and Steve Carell, regarding The Office.
It was so cool to hear Amy and Steve discussing, “Do you feel there’s a new generation of people tapping into “The Office”?’ and I’m like pulling my hair out of my head.
Our producer DeDe’s daughter, she’s 10 years old, she like went through already a couple seasons. So it’s just so good.
Apparently, while Amy Ryan and Steve Carell wondered if the new generation found The Office relatable and binge-worthy, Timothée Chalamet revealed how he couldn’t get over his obsession with the show. Pulling the film producer’s daughter into the conversation for extra support, Chalamet insisted that the mockumentary sitcom was evergreen.
The Office is currently available to watch on Peacock.
Beautiful Boy is available to watch on Prime Video.
