The drama that Win Win writer/director Tom McCarthy intends to make about the journalistic investigation into the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child molestation incidents now has a name: Spotlight. Now the filmmaker is looking to building a strong ensemble for the project, with Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, Michael Keaton Rachel McAdams, Aaron Eckhart and Liev Schreiber all in various stages of talks.
It’s based on the Pulitzer-winning investigative reporting by Boston Globe staffers Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Matt Carroll, editor Walter “Robby” Robinson, special projects editor Ben Bradlee and the paper’s overall editor, Marty Baron, who kicked off the story in the first place after seeing a report about a Boston priest who was accused of molesting children.
As the team dug into the case, they discovered a wide-ranging conspiracy by Cardinal Bernard Law, who moved guilty priests to different parishes to hide the allegations, whereupon the priests continued to abuse children. Interviewing hundreds of victims and other people involved across a year, they eventually cracked the story.
If they end up making deals, Ruffalo will be Rezendes, McAdams will be Pfeiffer, Keaton will play Robinson and Schreiber will take on the role of Baron. McCarthy wrote the script with The West Wing’s Josh Singer and the aim is to deliver an** All The President’s Men**-style drama for this hot-button topic.