30 amazing facts about the movie “Spotlight”! (List)

Read them here: 1. Spotlight is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer.

2. The film follows The Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative unit in the United States and its investigation into the widespread child sex abuse cases in the Boston area.

3. The film was attacked by Jack Dunn (played by Gary Galone in the film), a member of the board at Boston College High School, and its public relations head, for portraying him as indifferent to the scandal. After viewing the film, Dunn says he actually was immediately aware of the issues involved and worked to respond. Two of the Globe reporters depicted in the film, Walter Robinson and Sacha Pfeiffer, issued a statement in response to Dunn, firmly standing by their recollections of the day, saying Dunn did “his best to frame a story in the most favorable way possible for the institution he is representing. That’s what Jack did that day.” They said Dunn mounted a “spirited public relations defense of Boston College High School during our first sit-down interview at the school in early 2002”, the lone scene in which Dunn is depicted in the film.

4. The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d’Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, and Billy Crudup.

5. As of January 18, 2016, Spotlight has grossed $30.9 million in North America and $309,218 in other territories for a worldwide total of $31.2 million, against a budget of $20 million.

6. It is based on a series of stories by the real Spotlight Team that earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

7. The film “premiered to sustained applause” at the Venice Film Festival and the audience “erupted in laughter” when the film reported that following the events in the film Cardinal Bernard Law was reassigned to a senior position of honor in Rome. It had a limited release on November 6, 2015, with its nationwide release scheduled for three weeks later on November 25.

8. McCarthy and Singer completed the script in June 2013. It was listed on the 2013 Black List of unproduced screenplays.

9. It won numerous guilds and critics’ association awards, and was named one of the finest films of 2015 by various publications.

10. Spotlight was shown in the Out of Competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.

11. It was shown as well as at the Telluride Film Festival and the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

12. The film was released on November 6, 2015, by Open Road Films.

13. Spotlight has been critically acclaimed, and has been included in many critics’ Top Ten Films of 2015 lists. The film has received over 100 industry and critics awards and nominations. The American Film Institute selected Spotlight as one of the Top Ten Films of the year.

14. The film garnered three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for McCarthy, and Best Screenplay for McCarthy and Josh Singer.

15. It was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay for Singer, Best Editing for Tom McArdle and Honorary Robert Altman Award for the cast.

16. Rachel McAdams and the ensemble cast received Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, respectively.

17. The New York Film Critics Circle awarded Michael Keaton Best Actor award, while it won the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Ensemble cast at New York Film Critics Online Awards.

18. Spotlight won the Best Film and Best Screenplay from Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

19. It received eight nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Score

20. It won the Best Cast in a Motion Picture at Satellite Awards and was nominated for six other awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

21. The real Walter Robinson said: “My persona has been hijacked. If Michael Keaton robbed a bank, the police would quickly have me in handcuffs”.

22. When Michael Keaton accepted the role, he had tracked the real Walter Robinson before meeting him and lived near Robinson’s house without him knowing. He also gotten hold of video and audio of Robinson. When Keaton first met him he did an impression of him that Robinson was so scared and said to him, “How did you know everything about me, we just met?”

23. Mark Ruffalo asked the real Michael Rezendes, “Can I listen to you yell at someone?”

24. When the real Walter Robinson visited the set he was very impressed after seeing Michael Keaton sitting at an exact copy of his desk, a two-fingered typist, just like him, his lips pursed, peering through reading glasses at a vintage 2001 Globe computer screen.

25. Michael Keaton watched Jason Robards performance in All the President’s Men (1976) to take some inspiration.

26. According to Mark Ruffalo, most of the actual Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the scandal were Roman Catholics.

27. When Mark Ruffalo met the real Michael Rezendes for the first time at his home, he was carrying a notebook and an iPhone to record Rezendes’ voice in order to get his most accurate speech patterns.

28. The Boston Globe was very helpful with the set and approved the costume design, production design, actors, and script.

29. This is the second movie Michael Keaton has done about the newspaper industry after The Paper (1994).

30. The film is described as in the vein of the classic journalism pic All the President’s Men (1976).