STACK New Zealand May 2016 Issue

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

give these journalists

the time to do this, it

wouldn’t have been

told.

“Tom McCarthy,

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’ re-telling of

their story.

“Matt has said he

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

the Toronto 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.

“I think another great

take away from this film

is the importance of

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.

Xxxxxx

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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