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Globe Reporters Defend Portrayal of Jack Dunn in Movie

By Jack Encarnacao
Boston Herald
November 26, 2015

http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/2015/11/globe_reporters_defend_portrayal_of_jack_dunn_in_movie

JOURNALISTS: At top from left to right, Michael Keaton as Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes, Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, John Slattery as Ben Bradlee Jr. and Brian d’Arcy James as Matt Carroll from the new film, ‘Spotlight,’ which depicts the Boston Globe’s investigation of the archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal. (Courtesy of Open Road Films)

Two Boston Globe reporters depicted in the new Hollywood flick “Spotlight” broke their silence last night, saying the movie accurately portrays a Boston College spokesman’s stance during the paper’s investigation of the archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal.

That spokesman, Jack Dunn, is demanding a scene be removed of his character trying to minimize the church abuse story.

In a joint statement, the Globe’s Walter Robinson and Sacha Pfeiffer said the scene captures Dunn’s “spirited public relations defense of BC High during our first sit-down interview at the school in early 2002.”

“Both of us were there for the interview, and we consider the scene faithful to what happened,” the statement reads. “The scene depicts a fairly common exchange involving reporters who have unpleasant questions to ask and a skilled public relations person doing his best to frame a story in the most favorable way possible for the institution he is representing. That’s what Jack did that day.”

A lawyer for “Spotlight,” Alonzo Wickers IV, wrote that the scene in question was derived from an interview screenwriter Josh Singer conducted with Robinson, in which Robinson ?recalled Dunn saying he couldn’t imagine past BC High administrators would know about sexual offenses made by the Rev. James Talbot.

Talbot served six years in jail for molesting two teenage boys while he was at BC High in the late 1970s.

The letter also states the movie’s portrayal of Dunn was “vetted” by Robinson and Pfeiffer.

Wickers also wrote that any ?legal action by Dunn over the scene could prompt discovery ?focused on whether Dunn advocated Boston College High School disclose abuse by Talbot.

“Any communications between Mr. Dunn and media outlets about the Catholic Church or the abuse scandal will also be highly relevant,” the Nov. 24 letter from Wickers reads. “Accordingly, Mr. Dunn is reminded of his obligation to preserve any relevant evidence relating to these issues, including memoranda, correspondence, and electronic messages (e-mail) both in person and work accounts. We intend to send similar notices to BC High School and Boston College in light of your threatened litigation.”

Dunn’s lawyer sent a letter to the filmmakers last week requesting they delete a scene in which his character says in a meeting with Robinson: “It’s a big school, Robbie, you know that. And we’re talking about seven alleged victims over, what, eight years?”

Dunn, who called the portrayal “devastating,” says he never said that, and that in an earlier version of the script, the line was delivered by fictional character Pete Conley, not him.

In a statement to the Herald yesterday, Dunn’s lawyer, David Rich, said it is “remarkably disappointing that the makers of a movie about investigative journalism would fabricate quotes about a real individual’s response to the horrific clergy abuse sex scandal and contend that this was legally permissible or morally correct.”

The statement says Globe stories featuring Dunn at the time bear “no resemblance to the damaging fiction that the Spotlight scene portrays,” and that the position of Open Road, the film’s distributor, “is completely without merit.”

The letter from Spotlight’s lawyer calls the film a legally protected “fictional interpretation of actual events,” and that the portrayal of Dunn is “substantially true.” It also says Dunn cannot demonstrate any malice on the part of the filmmakers.

 

 

 

 

 




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