HIFF Delivered 'Spotlight' as Saturday's Centerpiece Film

“Spotlight,” a new film about the exposure of a systematic coverup of pedophilia in the Catholic Church in Boston, played to a packed house at Guild Hall on Saturday night.

A tight and mostly subdued ensemble cast delivered believable and nuanced performances in their roles as investigative reporters and editors at The Boston Globe. John Slattery and Liev Schreiber, two part-time East Hampton residents, played the top editors at the globe, and they participated in a panel discussion after the film.

Mr. Slattery said he was in Amagansett when he received the call from Tom McCarthy, the director, offering him the part. The next day he was on a plane to Boston to meet Ben Bradlee Jr., whom he plays in the film. He said the Globe’s editor was “open and supportive. He answered any stupid question I had, personal or professional.” 

Since he did not look like his real-life counterpart in the least, Mr. Slattery said he let that part of the role go and focused on his character's essence and what he did to “shepherd the story to completion.”

When another actor in the film mentioned that having the person he was portraying on the set made him nervous, he said he had never thought about it, because Mr. Bradlee had been so supportive. 

David Nugent, the festival’s artistic director, asked Mr.Schreiber about his character’s quiet steadiness. “A lot of the calmness was in the script,” Mr. Schreiber said. Marty Baron “is reserved in his life and attitude.” Working in journalism, a business that must handle and manage conflict, “he doesn’t let himself get too immersed or deeply imbedded in things. He tries to stay on the right side of things in a way that would make most of us uncomfortable.” 

Other members of the cast included Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, Michael Keaton, and Billy Crudup. The film will be in theaters Nov. 6.