Long applause at both press screenings. A seemingly endless standing ovation at the premiere. Spotlight, Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston church scandals excites
festival audiences.
Spotlight is the name of a special investigative team of four Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the pedophilia cases in the catholic church after years of thorough research and published many articles starting in 2001 that led to Cardinal Bernard Law to resign his post. Director McCarthy assembled an all star cast: Michael Keaton as Spotlight leader Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, Mark Ruffalo as Mike Rezendes, Liev Schreiber as editor-in-chief Marty Baron, John Slattery as publisher Ben Bradlee Jr. and Stanley Tucci as attorney Mitchell Garabedian.
Tucci and Ruffalo are at the festival along with Tom McCarthy. At the Villa Laguna Mark Ruffalo joked about his own upbringing in Wisconsin: “I was raised in a household that was Catholic, born-again Christian and a father who was a Bahai. So I had a little bit of everything.” What surprised him most when he did his own research was – as he says – “it was systemic. It wasn’t just the church, it was the whole of Boston to turn a blind eye to it“.
Tom McCarthy who also wrote the screenplay with Josh Singer adds that “I had a lot to draw from – recordings and interviews and a lot of court records to get a well rounded story.” For the director the story hit close to home. He grew up in a Catholic family and went to Boston College, being educated by Jesuit priests: “My father is a very strong Catholic. I told him that as soon as they announce it in the paper that I’m doing this film, they are going to hear about it. And sure enough the calls were coming in from their friends asking, why is he doing this? Can’t he leave it alone?”
Ruffalo was happy about portraying a real-life character: “I was lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with Mike Rezendes and get to know him. I used him quite a bit and was always aware of the responsibility that I had to tell the truth about him. It was a great gift and honor to have him to work with.”
For Stanley Tucci it was the opposite: “I never met Garabedian, who is a complicated person. But there was a lot of news footage and press conferences to draw from in order to bring him to life.”
It is fitting that the film premiered at Italy’s most famous festival. “This is the seat of Catholicism and certainly the right time to have a conversation, and with a new Pope there is a willingness from the church to claim culpability.” says Mark Ruffalo. Adds Tucci: “I think this new Pope is extraordinary in bringing the Catholic church into the 21st century. And if anybody is to stop such abuses in the future it will be him.” McCarthy does not share that enthusiasm: “After making this movie I remain pessimistic towards change within the Catholic church. Words are one thing, actions are quite another. And I have high hopes for Pope Francis but what happens, what actually changes remains to be seen.
The director expects no reaction from the church and so far he is right – the Vatican has been mum on the subject of the film and its Venice premiere.
McCarthy, Tucci and Ruffalo (with his wife Sunrise) walked the red carpet at the
Palazzo del Cinema. Spotlight is being – rightfully – compared to All The President’s Men by many critics.
Elisabeth Sereda
Stanely Tucci, Thomas Mc Carthy and Mark Ruffalo at Spotlight press conference

Photo credit: Luca Celada/HFPA
Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci and Thomas McCarthy (Director)
at the photo call for the Venice film festival film Spotlight

Photo credit: Luca Celada/HFPA
Mark Ruffalo at the photo call for the Venice film festival film Spotlight

Photo credit: Luca Celada/HFPA