Mark Ruffalo knew Spotlight would hit right notes

Film News
April 3, 2016

http://www.film-news.co.uk/news/UK/36789/Mark-Ruffalo-knew-Spotlight-would-hit-right-notes

Mark Ruffalo knew that his Oscar-winning movie Spotlight would resonate with the world.

The 48-year-old actor stars as real life reporter Mike Rezendes in the true tale about how a group of Boston Globe journalists blew the lid of a Catholic priest paedophile ring.

The Tom McCarthy-directed feature also stars Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber, and scooped two Academy Awards, a BAFTA and a SAG at the 2016 awards shows.

“I'm in the entertainment business, and we get to make different kinds of movies,” Mark pointed out to Cover Media. “Some are just purely for entertainment and then sometimes you make a movie that culturally will push the culture to a particular place. I read the script and I immediacy felt this is a story that we have heard, but it's time to revisit it again and the culture is ready to revisit it and we have this new Pope and there's a space open for this to really resonate in the world.”

Mark worked closely with Mike before shooting began, and got to study the journalist as he went about his job. The three time Oscar-nominated star has a healthy respect for the press, but none more so than Mike.

“It was just the man's humanity, to confront an issue like this in the way he did you have to leave a lot of space open for people to be human even if they're on the wrong side of this story,” he stated. “That's how people will open up and talk to you.

“He was so equitable. I sat there for days watching him work a story, hearing him on the phone, hearing him interview people. And I was fascinated by how much space he left for people even on the wrong side to be able to right themselves, to suddenly become part of the right side of the story.”