‘Spotlight’ wins big at the Gotham Awards: will it go all the way to the Oscars?

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Here are some photos of Rachel McAdams, John Slattery and Liev Schreiber at last night’s Gotham Awards. They are some of the stars of Spotlight, and Spotlight ended up taking home four big awards at the Gothams: a special jury prize, best screenplay, best ensemble and best film. Spotlight was also announced (last week) as the recipient of the Robert Altman ensemble award at the Independent Spirit Awards, just FYI.

I saw Spotlight over the weekend, and OMG, it deserves all of the awards. I’m not even going to put “SPOILERS” anywhere, because I would hope that everyone has a passing familiarity with the story: the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team did a year-long investigation into the history of Catholic Church’s pedophile priest problem in 2001 and 2002. The film stars McAdams, Slattery, Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo, Jamey Sheridan, Michael Keaton, Billy Crudup, Stanley Tucci and more. I was disconcerted by how all-white the cast was, but to be fair… it was a true story and it takes place in Boston. And to be fair, every actor was pitch perfect.

I went into the film thinking that Michael Keaton was “the star,” but that’s not the case really. The ensemble is the star. The screenplay is the star. Keaton and Ruffalo are close to being the leads of the film, but even then, I would say that they’re technically supporting actors in one of the best ensembles ever assembled. Spotlight reminded me somewhat of All the President’s Men, mostly because the film’s focus was on the mechanics of journalism, the internal struggle of working newspaper, and how editorial decisions are made in the face of an enormous scandal that has been overlooked for decades.

Everyone involved was so good, it’s difficult to even pinpoint one particular actor for being “the best.” Ruffalo had the “showy” role as the dedicated, passionate reporter and lapsed Catholic who got emotionally involved with the story. Michael Keaton’s character arc was the most thought-provoking, and I think Keaton deserves some special recognition for daring to look his age, because seriously, he looked REALLY old in so many of the close-ups. It was refreshing too – no one was Botoxed or tweaked or anything. I also loved Schreiber, CB’s boyfriend, who played the Boston outsider and new editor of the Boston Globe – he was the quiet, dedicated force pushing the Globe to do a more in-depth analysis of the Church from his first day on the job.

Anyway, I can’t recommend this film more. I’ve been on a movie-going binge lately and this was by far the best drama I’ve seen all year. GO SEE IT!

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet and Getty.

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29 Responses to “‘Spotlight’ wins big at the Gotham Awards: will it go all the way to the Oscars?”

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  1. Joy says:

    You are correct. It’s a story that takes place in Boston’s Catholic community which is largely white. Sorry the truth is disconcerting.

  2. Abbott says:

    It’d be nice if Keaton got a “do over” this year at the Oscars.

    • denisemich says:

      I saw the movie and it was blah. I don’t see anyone from it winning an Oscar.

      • seesittellsit says:

        I didn’t think it blah at all, but it is true that it was more an ensemble piece than a star vehicle, which is why I liked it. I’m from the northeast and I remember this story when it broke . . . I wouldn’t be surprised if it picked up awards for script and such.

      • Byte Me says:

        I saw this movie a couple weeks ago and thought it was the best of the year by far. I think there will be several oscar nominations and deservedly so.

      • joan says:

        I won’t speculate about what kind of movie you think isn’t “blah.”

        But it’s hard to imagine Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo being “blah” so I think I can guess what you go for.

  3. Lama Bean says:

    Oh John Slattery is giving me feels. He’s a Silver Fox in my eyes.

  4. kri says:

    What a talented ensemble! Wow. I would love to see Mark Ruffalo get a statue…I have adored him since I first saw him. Def want to see this film.

  5. Franny says:

    I saw it this weekend too, and loved it. I’m usually a rom-com kinda girl, but this movie was such a good watch. It’s one of those where you want to know how the story plays out, you want more time with the characters. Highly recommend it!

  6. mimif says:

    I am not a Liev fan by any stretch, but that turd stache is totally doing it for me. Also, Rachel McAdams is always such a gorgeous creature. The End.

    • Esmom says:

      Ha, mimif, I saw a photo of him earlier this morning and for the first time I really got his appeal. And I don’t like staches either.

      • mimif says:

        I know there are lots of Liev fan girls here, but I cannot stand the dude and it’s from stupid hearsay gossip from way back when. However, I do like staches, particularly turd staches, and OMG CHOPS. It annoys me to no end that the hipsters are taking over my facial hair fetish.

      • Esmom says:

        mimif, curious about the Liev hearsay. And I missed that you were actually into staches. If you like chops you would love this one teacher my son has. But also hate him because he’s definitely a hipster.

        And speaking of hipster facial hair appropriation, I knew it had reached epic levels a couple years ago when I was in San Francisco and a guy in a bakery was sporting a twirly waxed mustache. I was so happy to get out of there and fly home to my sedate suburb where people are a good decade behind the try-hard trends.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      Croquemturdstache

  7. NUTBALLS says:

    Spotlight deserves Best Picture, Direction and Screenplay for sure. Between Ruffalo and Stallone in Creed and my desire to see Keaton get his award, I’m torn when it comes to Best Supporting Actor.

    I wasn’t expecting Gotham voters to go for such a “traditional” film, but I’m thrilled for Spotlight. It’s got a a lot of momentum building going into awards season.

    Now that Tangerine is coming to Netflix this month. I’m looking forward to seeing that after its wins at Gotham.

  8. Josefina says:

    It seems like this Oscars will be pretty exciting. I’ve been reading a lot of rave reviews about the possible nominees.

    That’s cool. I thought the last ones were super dissapointing. Birdman was the only nominated film I truly loved.

    • Ctkat1 says:

      There isn’t a clear front runner in any category but Actor (Leo Dicaprio seems to be the presumed winner, but even that is still open). It’s pretty unheard of for the field to be so open at this time of year- usually several categories are locked down by now. If it stays this open, the Oscars might have some real excitement!

  9. Jayna says:

    Amazing movie. Deserves to win. Fantastic acting.

  10. Lilacflowers says:

    Happy for them all. They did a great job. Also happy the film portrayed Eric MacLeish (Crudup’s character) as the sleaze he is instead of as the hero he proclaims himself

  11. boredblond says:

    I just re-watched ‘For Your Consideration’ this weekend, so all the ‘Oscar buzz’ items are making me smile…

  12. Amelie says:

    I saw this movie last weekend. As a mostly lapsed Catholic, I remember when this story came out (I was in middle school and just about to be confirmed that spring) because it rocked the Catholic Church to its core. It did a terrible job of accepting the truth and admitting they covered up for a lot of priests by simply reassigning them to other parishes so the pattern of abuse would continue. This movie did a really good job of taking us behins the scenes of what it took to break the story. Everybody was good though Mark Ruffalo’s character had some weird mannerisms and I’m wondering if he was trying to emulate the reporter he plays.

    As for all the cast being white–most of the actors were playing real people who were white in real life so I’m not sure that’s really something to nitpick over.

  13. Happy21 says:

    I’m not going to lie I never even heard of this movie until right now. Just went and saw the trailer and have a plan to go and see it next week even if it’s alone. It looks fabulously put together.

  14. Lama Bean says:

    But….but….what about Idris in Beasts of No Nation? Too many supporting actors and not enough lead actors. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride?

  15. seesittellsit says:

    Saw this over the weekend and was really impressed: the kind of film us grownups hardly get anymore, very good ensemble work, good script – hope it does go all the way to the Oscars.

  16. Tiffany says:

    I know this took place 14 years ago but it still feels like it was yesterday. This really was a shook to the core story. Glad the movie is good.

  17. Maria A. says:

    Saw it a week ago Wednesday. It was great. I can’t see any individual actors getting noms, but I could see – easily – the cast getting a SAG nom and award for just being such an awesome group turning in flawless performances.

  18. Putnam Princess says:

    I totally agree. This is the best movie I have seen this year (the Amy Winehouse documentary is a close second.) Go see this film.