[The following containsSPOILERS.]
he says to Robinson and Pfeiffer.
Except that exchange never actually happened.
Credit: Melissa Renwick/Toronto Star via Getty Images
In reality, these sequences played out during the screenwriting process when MacLeish told Singer and McCarthy.
But not long into their chat, MacLeish dropped the bomb.
My reaction was quite similar to Rachel and Michaels in that scene:That cant possibly be true.
Tom and I sort of looked at each other but didnt say anything.
I called Tom as soon as I got the article and said, What do we do?'
They emailed Robinson the story, not knowing what to expect.
He owned up to it, says Singer.
And in real life, Robinson doesnt dodge.
Like any journalist whos been around this long, Ive made my share of mistakes.
But I have no memory of it.
Should it have been played more prominently?
In hindsight, based upon on what we later learned, yes, obviously.
To me, this is where the movie gets really compelling, because it certainly isnt black and white.
Back then, Boston was riveted bythe case against Rev.
James Porter, who was ultimately sentenced to 18-20 years for abusing dozens of children in multiple parishes.
… We deplore that.
It certainly created a lot of waves internally, Zellman says.
I think there was a level of institutional courtesy towards the Church.
The coverage after that was scarce.
But if there was some editorial restraint, it was reflected by public opinion.
It was regarded as something extraordinary, as something obscene.
There was always a suspicion that guys like me, guys like us, were sniping unfairly.
Matchan encountered the same resistance.
After I finished that magazine story, I thought, theres so much more to say about this.
I wanted to write a book about it, she says.
So I contacted an agent, and she loved the idea.
That was the thinking in those days.
Every archdiocese is in a city with a major paper everybody missed this, says Robinson.
Its almost beyond belief.
Robby, to my mind, is a hero, says Singer.
The whole,Why didnt the paper get this earlier?
Its noble in how he takes the blame for it, how he falls on his sword.
I think we found that incredibly heroic, because that also was the interaction we had with him.
Were reporters and we stumble around the dark a lot, he says.
And the film shows that.
The film shows that its sort of a two steps forward one step back approach.
