There was this openness. I remember that's what I chanted to myself over and over and over again. The part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex is still developing when you're young. Antonio shouldn’t, and surely wouldn’t in other circumstances, have tried to do what he does at the climax. GROSS: So how come incidents like that weren't enough to get you to think, well, I'd better stop; I'm killing myself? All rights reserved. You know, it's easier to blame other people than to have to look at yourself. Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer. And that's the problem that I have. Ninety percent of the people who become addicted started using when they were teenagers - before they were 18. And, you know, you have to sleep and room with three other people. Though he never reveals anything about his past and the particulars of it are never known, its plain that he’s lived his life as a gunslinger and it hasn’t been pretty. And he did things that were just inconceivable that he would do. I would - when I went to Al-Anon on meetings, I was told by someone, before this is over, you will believe in God. There's so much research now that shows that people with addiction process drugs differently. David Sheff returned to FRESH AIR five years later to talk about what he'd learned about the science of addiction and recovery. And it's - you know, it's so subtle. I just need some money, all right. N. SHEFF: Oh, I don't know. The new film "Beautiful Boy" stars Steve Carell as a father struggling with his son's drug addiction. And I had a reason to because he could have gone out and scored and overdosed and died. Maybe I was praying in a way, you know, in case someone out there was listening. His father David is played by Steve Carell. You have a lot of experience with them because - I think - Nic had been in a 12-step program. They're dangerous. And that's gotten me here, thank God. You have to essentially commit them. And yeah, so I think that if you need it - you know, if you get a really good doctor that knows what they're doing, you know, and they can help you, I think that's awesome, absolutely. Sensing dad’s deep disappointment (not that dad is making it a secret) the kid spends most of the rest of the film trying, mostly futilely, to win the old man’s approval (amongst many great comic set pieces). A lot of it is because of that. A different part of the brain is in control. The little boy matures into Jackie Coogan, the first great child star of the movies. David Sheff's memoir about his son's addiction is called "Beautiful Boy," which is also the name of the new movie based on both memoirs.