STACK May 2016 Issue 139

“I think another

great take away

from this film is

the importance of

what it takes to tell

these stories. If you

consider the fact that

if this story didn’t

have the resources

and the support

from

The Boston

Globe

to give these

journalists the time

to do this, it wouldn’t

have been told.

“TomMcCarthy, our

director, had a really

interesting point – he

said it’s a great time for

graft in local politics,

because no-one is

covering the capitals.

They don’t have the

people, they don’t have the

manpower to do it, so if you

want to slide some money

under the table, chances

are you’re going to get away

with it, because there are

less and less people who

are watching the store, from

a journalistic point of view.”

McCarthy insisted on

getting the details of the

investigation – and the way

the reporters worked on it –

as accurate as he possibly

could. And essential to that

process was consulting with

the reporters themselves,

even if, at first, they were a

little wary of a ‘Hollywood’

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DVD

FEATURE

jbhifi.com.au

MAY

2016

DVD

Amongst the rave reviews

that

Spotlight

has received

from playing film festivals

around the world, there was

one that Brian d’Arcy James

treasured the most – the

seal of approval from the

man he plays in the film.

Directed

Tom

McCarthy,

Spotlight

brilliantly

recounts

the

Boston Globe

’s Pulitzer

Prize-winning exposé of

the child abuse scandal in

the Catholic Church with an

ensemble cast playing the

real journalists involved in

the newspaper’s painstaking

investigation,

including

d’Arcy James as Matt Carroll,

a key member of the team.

After the film played at

theToronto Film Festival, the

journalists joined McCarthy

and his cast on stage to a

standing ovation.

“There was a moment

on stage at the end where

we were just standing next

to each other, and I looked

at Matt and I said, ‘I’m

assuming this is an amazing

experience,’” recalls d'Arcy

James.

“He goes, ‘yeah, this is

crazy.’ I said, ‘It is. It’s an

extraordinary moment.’ I

think it was just as thrilling

for me as it was for him, if I

can put words in his mouth.

He would choose much

better words,” he laughs.

“The journalists, including

Matt, have said that they felt

that we did a good job and

I’m going to believe them. I

think they honestly mean it.

And that to me is the best

review you can get.

“Because you do what

you love and when you

have something like this

that has such social and

significant impact, it is quite

a testament when they say,

‘thank you for getting it right.’

So I’m very proud of that.”

He points out too, that

investigative

journalism

takes time and money and

that these days, resources

on newspapers are being

cut back. The Spotlight team

on the

Boston Globe

started

their investigation into child

abuse in the Catholic Church

back in 2001 – and over the

following years the situation

has only worsened.

The real-life

Boston Globe

investigative team at the heart of SPOTLIGHT took some convincing that the film

would honour their efforts, says actor Brian d'Arcy James.

re-telling of their story.

“Matt has said he

definitely thought twice

about it, and Sacha (Pfeiffer,

played by Rachel McAdams)

said, ‘no good can come of

this,’” he laughs. “But I think

after a while when they

came around, especially

with what Tom and Josh

[Singer, screenwriter] had

done with the creation of the

script, which is the roadmap.

“They could see very

clearly that this wasn’t just

some slapdash version of

events. They were really

taking the time to get it right.

They went back again and

again, much like the work

that they did as journalists to

get the story right.

“I

think

they

felt

comforted and bolstered by

that, but when we came

into the mix, that’s another

element of strangeness. For

Matt, when we initially met

we spent two hours together

and we’d be talking and he

would see me looking at him

like this, and he’d start kind

of moving back, like, ‘what is

he computing?’

“But in all seriousness

it’s a great debt of gratitude

I have for his generosity and

opening up himself to me.

That is an asset for any actor

to have.”

Spotlight

is out May 4

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