Talking SPOTLIGHT with Director Tom McCarthy and Brian d’Arcy James

SPOTLIGHT (now playing everywhere) is based on the true story of how a special investigative division of the Boston Globe uncovered over a decade ago the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese.

Without manipulating the audience it is able to make urgent what most of us thought as old news, becoming not just one of the year’s best films, but a very important one.

At a recent press day in Beverly Hills I was able to talk to Tom McCarthy (Director, co-writer), and Brian d’Arcy James, who plays “the team’s geek” as he calls him, Matt Carroll.

The movie also stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Billy Crudup, and Stanley Tucci.

Desde Hollywood: Usually in films centered around an investigation we get to see the crime, in some way. Were you tempted to show a flashback showing some kind of molestation?

Tom McCarthy: This isn’t a murder so we didn’t feel that we needed to show the abuse. The closest we come is that opening scene: You have newspapers, priests, lawyers, parents, and everyone had an idea of what was going on but nobody did anything. Why? Those are the big questions that we want to rise with this film. That’s the greater theme in the movie: A culture of secrets and a society that is complicit in its silence. I think that makes it more universal than just a group of reporters going after a big institution like the Catholic church. A lot of Catholics have come to me saying things like “We heard things about that priest,” but people didn’t put it together, it was beyond the realm of imagination. Even for the reporters: Back in 2001 they had to wrap their heads around it, they just couldn’t believe it.

DH: Michael Keaton is a larger than life person, very energetic and with characteristic mannerisms. But he is very restrained in the movie. Did that come from your direction, the subject matter, or meeting the real life journalist?

McCarthy: We drugged him! [Laughs] He doesn’t know this, but in his coffee I put just put a few drops. Yeah, I remember distinctively saying to him “Trust the stillness, trust the quiet.” He is so interesting to watch; he does so many little things that you don’t notice until the editing room. He is good. He is really good. He is an animal, an instinctual actor. It’s hard to see his craft. Someone like Ruffalo is a tactician: You see him building his character, physically and emotionally. There are many great actors in this movie and they are very different. My job is to get them in the same team, like a coach in some extent. I need to get them all in the same space, in the same head space. A lot of the movie was about restraint, because these guys are passionate but not flashy.

Desde Hollywood: Can you have expectations about the impact of a movie like this, or you try not to think about it, specially when you are making it?

Brian d’Arcy James: You try to get the job done, to honor the written words and make the movie. I am very proud of being in this movie, not just because of the caliber of the talent involved, but because there is potential for it to continue a conversation that it is very important. To have any social significance and impact as an artist is a great achievement. Many times that isn’t the goal; we do something to make people laugh, to entertain. I think that it could create a space to continue a dialogue that is difficult to talk have. How do you even address this scandal and phenomena? There is space for healing for the survivors. A young man came to our producers after our first screening and told him that he was abused. But also healing for the church, for them to say “Let’s fix it!” And the potential to talk about the importance of journalism. That’s a long answer, I am sorry. [Laughs]

DH: What’s your opinion regarding awards season and campaigning?

d’Arcy James: It’s interesting. I have the perspective of a fan. To me, The Oscars are something you do for fun Sunday night. I root for my favorites, just as any other consumer of movies. This is the first time that I can be part of that conversation. You are going to hate this answer because it sounds so coy: For Tom McCarthy to have seen something and trust that I could be the 25% of this team was the win for me. The fact that there is talk of potential recognition is Gravy, with a capital g.

Open Road’s SPOTLIGHT is now playing in theaters nationwide.