Spotlight

Director: Tom McCarthy Tom McCarthy

Overview

Under the direction of new editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), the Boston Globe's elite investigative team, known as Spotlight, is tasked with delving into decades' worth of child-abuse claims against the Catholic Church. Led by Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), the journalists begin to uncover a massive scandal involving sexual abuse and the willful ignorance perpetrated by the Church within the city of Boston. Facing political opposition and resistance from the far-reaching influence of the Church, the reporters put together an explosive expos? on a corrupt system. Directed by Tom McCarthy and based on the true events of the 2002 investigation by the Globe, the star-studded Spotlight also features Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, John Slattery, Billy Crudup, and Stanley Tucci.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2016
UPC:	0025192328213
Original Release:	2015
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:09:00
Sales rank:	14,874

Special Features

Uncovering the truth: a Spotlight team roundtable; Spotlight: a look inside; The state of journalism

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mark Ruffalo	Michael Rezendes
Michael Keaton	Walter 'Robby' Robinson
Rachel McAdams	Sacha Pfeiffer
Liev Schreiber	Marty Baron
Brian d'Arcy James	Matty Carroll
Stanley Tucci	Mitchell Garabedian
Billy Crudup	Eric MacLeish
John Slattery	Ben Bradlee Jr.
Len Cariou	Cardinal Law
Elena Wohl	Barbara
Gene Amoroso	Steve Kurkjian
Jamey Sheridan	Jim Sullivan
Doug Murray	Peter Canellos,Hansi Kalkofen
Brian Chamberlain	Paul Burke
Michael Cyril Creighton	Joe Crowley
Paul Guilfoyle	Pete Conley
Patty Ross	Linda
Neal Huff	Phil Saviano
Elena Juatco	Guest List Woman
Stefanie Drummond	Sheila
Darrin Baker	Middle Age Priest at St. Peter's
Krista Morin	Young Reporter
Laurie Murdoch	Wilson Rogers
Joe Stapleton	Older Cop
Laurie Heineman	Judge Sweeney
Gary Galone	Jack Dunn
Janet Pinnick	Receptionist
Moira Driscoll	Woman Interviewee,Disgruntled Man
Maureen Keiller	Eileen McNamara
Robert B. Kennedy	Court Clerk Mark
Robert Clarke	Judge Volterra
David Fraser	Jon Albano
Bruce Serafin	Boston Globe Security Guard
Richard O'Rourke	Ronald Paquin
Michael Countryman	Richard Gilman
Tim Whalen	Young Cop
Martin Roach	Cop in Coffee Shop
Brad Borbridge	Sports Editor
Don Allison	Bishop
Paloma Nunez	Actor
Paulette Sinclair	Receptionist at Judge's Chambers
Nancy Villone	Maryetta Dussourd
Wendy Merry McCarthy	Female Editor
Eileen Padua	Sacha's Grandmother
Brett Cramp	Middle Aged Man
Tim Progosh	Principal Bill Kemeza
Neion George	Waiter at Gala
Zarrin Darnell-Martin	Intern Wanda
Paula Barrett	Jim's Wife
Mairtin O'Carrigan	Stewart
Anthony Paolucci	Kevin
Michele Proude	Lisa Tuite
Dennis Lynch	Actor,Clerk O'Brian
Mark McGrinder	Weeping Man
Richard Fitzpatrick	Rectory Priest
Jeffrey Samai	Library Security
Forrest Weber	Angry Man
Doreen Spencer	Older Southie Woman
Shannon Ruth	Girl at Garabedian's,Boy at Garabedian's
Timothy Mooney	Bad Priest
Donna Jahier	Angry Man's Sister
Sharon McFarlane	Helen Donovan
Paloma Nuñez	Garabedian's Receptionist
Ben McDaniel	Judge Volterra
Edward Brickley	Red Sox Announcer
Rachel Dratch	Actor
Siobhan Murphy	Intern
James LeBlanc	Patrick McSorley
Rob deLeeuw	Herald Reporter Quimby
Nancy Carroll	Jane Paquin
Shannon McDonough	Receptionist
Howard Shore	Composer

Technical Credits

Tom McCarthy

Josh Singer

Tom McCarthy	Director,Screenwriter
Michael Bederman	Producer,Executive Producer
Blye Pagon Faust	Producer
Steve Golin	Producer
Nicole Rocklin	Producer
Michael Sugar	Producer
Jonathan King	Executive Producer,Producer
Peter Lawson	Executive Producer,Producer
Tom Ortenberg	Executive Producer,Producer
Jeff Skoll	Executive Producer,Producer
Patrice Theroux	Executive Producer
Harold Van Lier	Executive Producer
Xavier Marchand	Executive Producer
Bard Dorros	Executive Producer,Producer
Pierre Omidyar	Executive Producer,Producer
Josh Singer	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
David Mizner	Executive Producer,Producer
Greg Crawford	Sound Effects
Mark DeSimone	Sound Effects
Devin Doucette	Sound Effects
Glen Gauthier	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Neishaw Ali	Special Effects
Paul Schnee	Casting
Kerry Barden	Casting
Jason Knight	Casting
Carolyn Pickman	Casting
John Garrett	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

In early 2001, Miami Herald transplant Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) takes over as editor in chief at the Boston Globe, the biggest daily newspaper in the closely knit, deeply Catholic city. Lamented as an outsider who will never grasp the populous of Boston, Baron makes a pointed effort to acquaint himself with his surroundings and deep-dive into the structural organization of the paper. Baron meets with Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), the head of "Spotlight," the paper's select investigative team, who pride themselves on long investigations and cathartic exposé pieces, to discuss their role moving forward. Baron's interest is piqued by a recent (albeit extremely brief) mention in the Globe of a Catholic priest charged with sex crimes against children in the Boston area. Mindful of the paper's large Catholic readership, Robby is hesitant to dig up more dirt on the priest. Baron presses him to think larger than just the single offense, and instructs the Spotlight team to delve into the Church as a possible systemic source of sexual transgressions in and around Boston. Robinson coordinates with his managing editor Ben Bradlee Jr. (John Slattery) and his stable of journalists; Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James), to begin their exhaustive investigation. They start by combing through old issues of the Globe for similar cases, reaching out to known victims and their counsel, and recruiting the help of Mitchell Garabedian (a fantastic Stanley Tucci), a lawyer absorbed in uncovering the sinister cover-ups by area clergy leaders of child abuse in the Church. As the journalists get deeper into their research, the horrific findings begin to mount -- they learn of more than 70 priests known to have committed child sexual abuse in and around Boston over the past few decades, with all signs pointing to the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law (Len Cariou), as a willful actor in the cover-up and obscuring of truth. Director Tom McCarthy co-wrote Spotlight with Josh Singer, and the duo have catapulted themselves into the lead for Best Picture. Spotlight is a taut, engrossing journalist procedural, the likes of which may not have been seen since All the President's Men in 1976. Briskly paced and never breaking its stare with the evil it confronts, Spotlight is a wire-to-wire home run. It seems almost foreign now in 2015 to recall the time when society leaned so heavily on the work of print journalists, but McCarthy has created a movie that can harness that importance into a captivating picture. Spotlight exists in that miniature window of time after the Internet had become common but before it had become indispensable, which made hard journalistic instinct a vital mechanism to uncover systemic misdeeds and indignities. With newsrooms across the country slashing budgets and laying off reporters, Spotlight is a timely reminder about the societal importance of dogged journalism. The real-life efforts of the Spotlight reporters could have been all for naught had the Globe not given them more than a year to compile their evidence and track down the truth. Such leniency within newspapers now is rare, if not completely antiquated. McCarthy reminds us why we cannot let newspapers disappear -- not through theatrical newsroom speeches, but by showing the legwork that is needed to put an exposé like this together in an effort to affect real impact. Keaton builds on his career revitalization with a measured performance as the conflicted Catholic newsman Robinson. Ruffalo will not be alone come awards season for Spotlight, but his authenticity and purpose as Rezendes should garner him a second consecutive nom for Best Supporting Actor after last years' Foxcatcher. And fresh off the less-than-stellar second season of True Detective, McAdams reminds audiences that she can hold her own with the best in Hollywood. It's a sight to behold when an ensemble cast can become even greater than the sum of its top-notch parts. Spotlight is an important film for the ugliness that its subjects uncovered. Before the credits roll, there is a list shown of every major city that has been involved in a child-abuse scandal in regards to the Catholic Church. It's staggering in its length, and speaks to the weight of the efforts of Baron, Bradlee, Robinson, Rezendes, Pfeiffer and Carroll in Boston.