CALIFORNIA
The New York Times
January 7, 2016
By Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes
LOS ANGELES — About 45 minutes into “The Big Short,” Adam McKay’s “true story” — or so it says on the billboards — of Wall Street greed, the actor Finn Wittrock turns to the camera and confesses, “O.K., so this part isn’t totally accurate.”
No, he admits, the real-life counterpart to his character didn’t find a road map to the housing crisis of the mid-2000s lying around the marbled lobby of a JPMorgan Chase tower. Actually, he and his investing partner had heard and read about it elsewhere. But, hey, lighten up. It’s just a movie ….
… Even “Spotlight,” Open Road Films’ critically acclaimed look at The Boston Globe’s investigation of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, has its fact-conscious detractors.
“Over all, I think the film is a misrepresentation of how the Church dealt with sexual abuse cases,” said David F. Pierre Jr., who has criticized the film’s veracity online and has challenged The Globe’s investigation in his book “Sins of the Press: The Untold Story of The Boston Globe’s Reporting on Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church.” In a phone interview, Mr. Pierre said that the movie’s biggest flaw was its failure to portray psychologists who, as cases surfaced, assured church officials that abusive priests could be safely returned to their duties after treatment.
Tom Ortenberg, Open Road’s chief executive, said in an email, in part, “Mr. Pierre is perpetuating a myth in order to distract from real stories of abuse, stories that continue to come to light every day.
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