Participant Media’s “Spotlight” Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel Mcadams, Liev Schreiber And Stanley Tucci Goes To Camera In Boston Before Lensing In Toronto

September 25, 2014, Boston, MA /3BL Media/ - Principal photography begins today on Academy Award®-nominee Thomas McCarthy’s riveting drama SPOTLIGHT, starring Mark Ruffalo (The Normal Heart, The Kids are All Right), Michael Keaton (Birdman), Rachel McAdams (Midnight in Paris), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) and Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games). Written by McCarthy and Josh Singer (The Fifth Estate), SPOTLIGHT is a co-production of Anonymous Content and Rocklin/Faust, financed by Participant Media, and will be distributed by Open Road Films in the U.S. and by Entertainment One internationally.  

Joining the cast are John Slattery (Mad Men), Brian d’Arcy James (Smash), Billy Crudup (Blood Ties) and Jamey Sheridan (Homeland). SPOTLIGHT will shoot in Boston for one week and then head to Toronto where filming will continue until the end of November.

Thomas McCarthy received an Oscar® nomination for the screenplay Up, won a BAFTA award for the script of The Station Agent which he also directed and was named best director at the Independent Spirit Awards for The Visitor.

In 2001, the Boston Globe began an investigation that would rock the city and shock the world.  SPOTLIGHT tells the story of that investigation, the story of Marty Baron (Schreiber), Ben Bradlee Jr. (Slattery) and the four members of the Globe’s investigative Spotlight team - Walter Robinson (Keaton), Mike Rezendes (Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (McAdams) and Matt Carroll (James) - who would sacrifice everything to expose the Boston Archdiocese’s systemic cover up of sexual abuse of children by ordained priests. For years, whispers of scandal were ignored by society, the media, by police and by the legal system. Silenced by shame, victims of sexual abuse often became victims of suicide. For their commitment to truth, the Spotlight team received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

SPOTLIGHT sheds new light on the investigation and the men and women who were integral to uncovering the story. It points to the necessity of good, local journalism, the type of journalism that has been decimated over the past fifteen years by the decline of the newspaper industry.  SPOTLIGHT explores the larger themes of complicity and deference, attempting to grapple with the question of how an evil so widespread could go undetected for so long.   

SPOTLIGHT’s producers are Steve Golin and Michael Sugar of Anonymous Content, and Nicole Rocklin and Blye Faust of Rocklin/Faust. Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King are executive producers, with Michael Bederman, Open Road Films’ Tom Ortenberg and Peter Lawson, and Entertainment One’s Patrice Theroux and Harold van Lier. Kate Churchill is co-producer and David Mizner is associate producer.  

About Participant Media

Participant (ParticipantMedia.com) is a global entertainment company founded in 2004 by Jeff Skoll to focus on feature film, television, publishing and digital content that inspires social change. Participant's more than 55 films includeGood Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth, Food, Inc., Waiting for ‘Superman’, The Help, Contagion and Lincoln. Participant, uniquely, launches campaigns that bring together government entities, foundations, schools, and others to raise awareness and drive people to take action on issues from each film or television show. Pivot (Pivot.tv), the company’s television network, is available in 45 million homes, serving passionate Millennials (18-34) with a diverse slate of talent and a mix of original series, acquired programming, films and documentaries. Participant’s digital network, TakePart (TakePart.com), is a leading source of socially relevant news, opinion, entertainment and information about ways to get involved with the issues that shape our lives. Through its films, social action campaigns, digital network, and its television network, Participant seeks to entertain, encourage and empower every individual to take action.

About OPEN ROAD FILMS 

Open Road Films is a dynamic, acquisition-based domestic theatrical distribution and marketing company which annually releases a diverse slate of star-driven motion pictures which has included multiple #1 releases. It was founded in 2011 by AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC) and Regal Entertainment Group (Regal), the two largest theatrical exhibition companies in the United States. Open Road and its lenders recently extended the company's $100,000,000 credit facility through 2018.

Past releases include: The Nut Job, which opened to over $25 million at the box office as the highest ever opening for an independent animated film, The Grey starring Liam Neeson which opened #1 at the box office; End Of Watch starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña which opened #1 at the box office; A Haunted House starring Marlon Wayans; and Side Effects directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Channing Tatum.

Current and upcoming releases include: the hit film Chef written by, directed by and starring Jon Favreau along with Sofia Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Oliver Platt, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey, Jr.; Nightcrawler (10/31/14), starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo and Bill Paxton and directed by Dan Gilroy; Rosewater, written and directed by Jon Stewart (11/7/14); The Gunman (2/20/15), starring Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Idris Elba, directed by Pierre Morel; Little Boy, an inspirational family film from executive producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (2/27/15); Rock The Kasbah starring Bill Murray along with Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Danny McBride and Scott Caan, directed by Barry Levinson; and Triple Nine, a thriller directed by John Hillcoat starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Aaron Paul, Kate Winslet, Gal Godot, Norman Reedus, Teresa Palmer and Clifton Collins, Jr. (9/11/15).

About Entertainment One

Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a leading international entertainment company that specializes in the acquisition, production and distribution of film and television content.  The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Spain, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Entertainment and Distribution divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming and merchandising and licensing. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 35,000 film and television titles, 2,800 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks.

eOne Films International is the film group's global sales arm, acquiring worldwide rights to premium commercial films from leading indie film producers and selling them to distribution partners worldwide.