Actor and director Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, one of the writers for “The West Wing,” have joined forces on an untitled drama which will follow the footsteps of the Boston Globe journalists who uncovered the sex abuse coverup in the Catholic Church in that area.
McCarthy has been working on the project for over a year, but has kept his work secret due to the sensitive nature of the film. The project was initially announced in April 2010 and is said to have similarities to “All the President’s Men.”
McCarthy told Boston.com about the film. He said, “This is a story that feels like it has to be told.”
McCarthy, who is a graduate of Boston College and grew up in a large Irish American family, said he felt drawn to the story because of his own connections.
He added, “It’s such a great reminder of how essential investigative journalism is.”
The movie follows the work of the Spotlight Team, consisting of reporters Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Matt Carroll. The movie also looks at the work of editor Walter Robinson, project editor Ben Bradlee Jr, and Globe Editor Marty Baron. The producers have secured life rights of the mentioned Globe reporters.
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When Baron was starting out as Globe Editor, he saw a story in the Globe about a Boston priest who had molested children and he had a hunch that there was more to story. He sent a group of reporters to interview scores of victims and pore over thousands of documents. The work took over a year.
But the effort was worth it. The Globe team discovered that Cardinal Bernard Law had hidden abusive priests for years by moving them to different parishes. The team won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for meritorious public service. Their stories also ignited a wave of similar allegations around the world. Law resigned from his Vatican post in 2011.
McCarthy recently co-wrote and directed “Win Win” for Fox Searchlight. McCarthy also wrote and directed “The Station Agent and “The Visitor.” He was previously nominated for an Oscar for co-creating the story of Pixar’s film “Up.” Singer started his career writing for “The West Wing” and later wrote and produced numerous episodes of “Law & Order: SUV,” “Lie to Me,” and “Fringe.”
The film, produced by Anonymous Content and Rocklin/Faust, has not yet been opened to financiers or studios. Nor has the film attached itself to any actors, although one star is interested in the material.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.FrankLaFerriere | Oct 26, 2012, 10:51 AM EDT
As a survivor of priest sexual abuse and torture, by a priest at the St Thomas More parish in Durham NH, I came out about my own abuse a little over a year ago. Since then I have seen the leaders of the RCC, like Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Michael Leveda and their pet pit bull Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League attacking us victims and putting the church before all of us. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, proves by his words just who he is concerned with in relation to his speech when New York passed the same sex marriage law, to wit: "Dolan also explained that he wanted to keep the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims to one-year, because if the church gets sued, "The perpetrators don’t suffer. There’s no burden on them. What suffers are the services and the ministries of the apostolates that we’re doing now. Because where does the money come from? So the bishops of 30 years ago that allegedly may have reassigned abusers, they don’t suffer. They’re dead. So the people that suffer are those who are being served right now by the church. We feel that’s a terribly unjust burden." So Cardinal Timothy Dolan only cares about the "unjust burden" and "suffering" of the church and not the unjust burden and suffering of us victims. I wonder how Cardinal Timothy Dolan would love to have the nightmares of being gang raped in hell by demons that I have had almost nightly since the rape. Of course this is not suffering and an unjust burden on me is it Cardinal Dolan?
glounlathan | Oct 23, 2012, 07:45 PM EDT
There is no doubt that this is the greatest trajety that has hit any Christian Community, but the church was not the only place this type of thing happened. Depsite everything the amount of Siko priests is a very small percentage. There is one group here who have never been challenged in all of this. They are flesh and blood relatives who abandoned their own at orphanage doors to meet whatever fate would be theirs. Has anyone pulled to task the Saturday night studs who left the products of their Saturday night hunt to grow up fatherless? This is where the abuse started. Not every child who entered an orphanage was abused by those who ran or worked in them, but every child sent to an orphanage was abused by their own relatives when they were cast to the wind.
kubs | Oct 23, 2012, 12:20 PM EDT
Good!
Seanmor | Oct 23, 2012, 11:34 AM EDT
Not only were molested children victim's of priestly abuse, good living, church-attending, God-fearing adult lay Catholics are being made to suffer the consequences of these abusive priests who caused several churches in the Boston area to be closed.
McNamara31 | Oct 23, 2012, 11:32 AM EDT
The truth always comes out; no matter how hard the powers that be in Rome tried to suppress it. When people view the Boston scandal on film it will have even deeper impact and will create even greater empathy for the victims of Geoghan, Shanely and others who destroyed the young lives of children and families across Massachusetts. Cardinal Law should be forced to view the film (in America) and then be driven off to jail to serve his term.