UNITED STATES
USA Today
Maeve McDermott, USATODAY February 25, 2016
Before Liev Schreiber donned wire-framed glasses to play Marty Baron in Spotlight, the newspaper editor was already a legend in his own right, from spearheading the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Catholic Church to winning Pulitzer Prizes at nearly every other paper he’s edited, most recently as the executive editor of the Washington Post.
On Thursday night, Baron discussed the Oscar-nominated film — that he’s seen “eight times,” if anyone’s counting — in a wide-ranging conversation at American University, discussing everything from the film’s impact on abuse survivors and the shocking details uncovered by screenwriters to his opinion of the Revenant.
He loves Schreiber’s portrayal
Baron had nothing but praise for Schreiber, who he’ll presumably meet again when they both travel to the Oscars on Sunday. “He’s a fantastic actor,” he said, joking, “Since the movie came out people say he looks like me.”
He’s been approached by abuse survivors sharing their stories for the first time
“It’s resonated with abuse survivors in an incredible way,” Baron said, sharing an anecdote about an 82-year-old man who, after watching Spotlight at a screening, shared his own account of abuse for the first time.
“He said he’d tried twice to see this movie and couldn’t make it past the parking lot of the theater. He saw it at this screening … he’d never told anyone, never spoken to anyone about it before. He talked about how it’d stayed with him his entire life. He said, ‘All I want to say is thank you,’ and that was incredibly moving, and then he walked back to his family.
That sort of thing has happened at a lot of events I’ve been at … abuse survivors encouraged to come forward and talk about the abuse they suffered.”
And newspapers who’ve changed their minds about investigative reporting
It’s hard to come away from Spotlight and not feel reinvigorated about the role of journalism. Apparently, this extends to journalism execs.
“I’ve heard from publishers saying they are rededicating themselves to investigative reporting,” Baron said.
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