Spotlight – Press Conference

Attended By: Freda Cooper

Most press conferences focus almost relentlessly on the film in question.  But not the one in London last week for “Spotlight”.

With director Tom McCarthy and actors Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo sat side by side with Walter Robinson and Mike Rezendes, the journalists they play in the film, questions about acting and making the film came second to ones about the actual events and their aftermath.

A heavy cold didn’t prevent Keaton from giving himself a reality check about his involvement in the project.  Acknowledging it was all too easy to sound “what used to be called highfalutin”, he was insistent that all the credit belonged to the Boston Globe journalists.  “I’m an actor,” he said.  “I try to do my little bit.  But guys like these, like Mike and Walter, they change the world.  They were the fabulous people that did it.”

Co-star Mark Ruffalo echoed this.  Talking about shadowing Rezendes while preparing for the role, including sitting in on interviews, he recalled, “I saw him change legislation with two or three articles.  He literally changed the state’s legislation on issues where people were being hurt.  And he did that, with The Globe behind him.  I can’t think of any other group of people that can effect that much change in such a precise way in such a short period of time.”  He also described Rezendes as “gentle on the people, but hard on the problem.”

Nominated for six Oscars and three BAFTAs, “Spotlight” tells the true story of the team of investigative journalists from the Boston Globe who uncovered the extent of child abuse in the city’s Catholic Church and its systematic cover-up.  Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo star alongside Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci and Liev Schreiber.  The film is released nationwide in the UK on Friday, 29 January.