Interview (Written): Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”)

An Indiewire interview with Tom McCarthy whose writing credits include The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win, and the new movie which he also directed Spotlight, co-written with Josh Singer.

“Spotlight” been compared to “All the President’s Men” since its very first screening, but it’s a much less glamorous portrayal of investigative reporting. Instead of meeting Deep Throat in dark parking garage, the Globe reporters in your movie are working up Excel spreadsheets.

You say that like it’s not sexy [laughs]. That was a different movie, kind of a paranoid thriller — and a great movie. It’s great to even be mentioned in the same breath as it. But we were very committed to being as true to the work these reporters do as possible. We put our money on [the idea that] committing to that process, albeit analog and dated, was just going to be compelling, in the sense that there’s no substitute for roll-up-your-sleeves blue collar journalism. It was essential that we portray that as accurately as possible and not try to glamorize it or romanticize it or sensationalize it in any way. We found the work really exciting, Josh [Singer] and I as writers, and the actors that came on, and we found the environs that they were working in really interesting, the library and these shitty offices, buried deep in the bowels of this massive ocean liner of an institution. There are not many buildings that exist like that anymore. I always felt like it was interesting enough that we didn’t need to push it in design in any specific way. But we needed to capture it, and we were collectively betting that if we did capture it really authentically, and we got the performances we needed from the actors, that was going to be enough. It was going to engaged audiences and be a fun, engaging ride. That’s always your gamble with a movie.

Did you have a particular interest in or knowledge of journalism before playing a reporter for David Simon on “The Wire,” or can we draw a straight line from that to “Spotlight”?

I’m a pretty well-read person. I read my paper every morning. I care about it. I probably had a healthy respect for good journalism up to that point. But being on that show taught me a lot. The passion and knowledge of journalism as storytelling is incredibly infectious. It was definitely a teachable moment for me, being on that show. That said, I didn’t leave “The Wire” and think, “I’ve got to tell a journalism story some day.” It’s just that when this story came up, I think I responded to it first as a story, and then I would talk to my colleagues, specifically Josh, about things that came up in that season — not only what I learned in terms of the profession, but in terms of storytelling. I think [Simon] did some things very well, and very smartly. I like to think that you’re constantly moving on and learning and taking things with you, so it’s hard to be a part of show that good and that expertly executed and not be impacted by it.

Here is a trailer for Spotlight:

For the rest of the interview, go here.