‘Spotlight’ Stars Reveal In-Depth Research to Play Investigative Reporters

UNITED STATES
Hollywood Reporter

by Hilary Lewis 10/28/2015

The film, about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer prize-winning team that exposed a massive cover-up of child abuse by priests throughout the Boston Archdiocese, features Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci and others.

In the new movie Spotlight, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and Brian d’Arcy James play three members of the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” investigative team, which in 2001 uncovered numerous instances of child abuse by Catholic priests and a cover-up within the Boston Archdiocese. And as they prepared to portray reporters searching for answers, the actors investigated the journalists.

Ruffalo told The Hollywood Reporter at Tuesday night’s New York premiere that he “spent a lot of time with the real journalist” he portrays, Michael Rezendes.

“I had meals with him. I talked with him for hours. I sat next to him at work,” Ruffalo said. “I watched him work the phones. I watched him write his stories. I talked to him about his life and his family. I had him give me tours of Boston. As much as I could soak him up seemed to be the most important part.”

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