'Spotlight' journalist Sacha Pfeiffer talks Rachel McAdams and journalism [Exclusive Interview]

Sacha Pfeiffer was a member of the Boston Globe Spotlight team of journalists who investigated the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal that captivated the Boston area for months and years as it unfolded. The team’s work led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, and the Catholic Church experienced a domino effect throughout the world. Stories of sexual abuse by priests started coming in from everywhere.

The team’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation is the basis for writer/director Thomas McCarthy’s latest film Spotlight. The film has been considered by many critics as the best movie of 2015 and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In the movie, Pfeiffer is portrayed by Rachel McAdams, who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance.

TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Daniel S. Levine got a chance to talk to Pfieffer over the phone on Feb. 11. In addition to the making of the film, we also covered the importance of investigative journalism.

TheCelebrityCafe.com: Did you ever think that the investigation would become the basis for a movie, especially one as successful as Spotlight has been?

Sacha Pfeiffer: Never, ever ever. In fact, it had never occurred to any of us that how we got the story could be an interesting story ever. It’s funny because someone recently said to me, “Why didn't you guys write a screenplay and sell it?” That’s because we never thought this was interesting.

When the producers approached us in 2008 or 2009, my first instinct was, “This is a very bad idea. Getting involved in Hollywood...no good can come from this. They’re just going to embarrass all of us. They’re going to exaggerate. There’s going to be ridiculous personal life drama.” And I was very wary for a long time. So, I think the fact that they made a really great movie with a lot of integrity that really authentically portrays our job and is getting really good reviews--it is a total surprise and a total joy.

TCC: What surprises me is that it took so long to do the investigation, and yet the movie doesn't feel like it skims over anything. So, is there any part of the investigation that didn't make it in the movie that you wished did? Or something you didn't want in the movie?

SP: No, to the latter. All of the things I was afraid they would do--a ridiculous personal life drama--they didn't do, so that’s great. I just thought they would need something to soup up our private lives. I agree with you that they did an amazing job in taking five months of research and compressing it into two hours and thoroughly covering what we did.

Now one thing that didn't get included is that we then wrote for another year and a half after we published our first story. We wrote probably 1,000 stories in the year and a half about Cardinal Law resigning, the Archdiocese on the brink of bankruptcy and delicate settlement negotiations with victims. Then, we got into the psychology of the abusers and why were there more boys than girls? We explored every aspect. So, the movie doesn't cover that work and the people on the Globe who joined to help us do that. But I think it was a really pragmatic film-making decision to end where they did because otherwise it would have had to be a multi-part mini series.

TCC: I remember when I saw it in a theater, everyone booed at the end when it said that Cardinal Law was just moved to the Vatican. Have you seen the movie with an audience?

SP: Yes, and it’s amazing how many people boo and hiss at that scene. And there are some people that gasp when they show the list of cities at the end [where other cases of priest sex abuse have been reported].

Some people have applauded, like when Brian d’Arcy James [who plays Matt Carroll] throws that newspaper down on the priest’s front door...or when [Walter ‘Robby’ Robertson, Michael Keaton’s role] goes up to Billy Crudup as [lawyer] Eric MacLeish and says there’s two stories we’re going to tell... So, it’s really fascinating to see an audience’s reaction.

TCC: The only time there was a laugh was at the AOL sign over the Globe building.

SP: Yeah, exactly. That is so funny. They did photoshop that in, but it did help make the effect that this is the very early stage of the Internet era.

TCC: So you think the film would have had the same effect if they didn’t use a lot of the real Boston locations?

SP: They probably filmed about a quarter of the film in Boston, most of the exterior shots and the rest in Toronto. They built a replica Globe newsroom and a replica Spotlight office. I think they did a really great amount of sprinkling real Boston with replica Boston.

TCC: Did you have any part in the process of casting Rachel McAdams?

SP: No, I had no part in the casting. I just got notified that she was going to be my actor. But then I spent an extensive amount of time for her as she got ready and, even during the filming, I was with her a lot. I would get text messages in the middle of the work day, and Rachel would say, “When you were doing an interview here, would you have used your notebook or typed into a computer?” and “If you were in the office, would you wear Tennis shoes or heels? And if you were wearing heels, how short or tall would they be?”

It was really amazing to watch [the actors] do their research and the questions they ask and how much they wanted to know about us...what we thought and what we felt... To me, the movie feels very authentic in terms of how we do our work. I think that’s because of how the director, the screenwriter and the cast worked so hard to get to know us and to consult with us along the way.

TCC: Did director Tom McCarthy talk with you a lot before the filming?

SP: Extensively. Tom McCarthy and [co-writer] Josh Singer came out multiple times over the course of a year and a half to two years. They spent hours with us individually multiple times, taping and recording. By the time the actors met us, they had been given transcripts of all our conversations with Josh and Tom so they could read all of that. And in some cases, they were given audio tapes. I left the Globe to work in public radio for seven years, so Rachel had listened to a lot of my interviews. She knew my voice, she knew my speaking style. They basically knew a lot about us before we met them.

TCC: It was almost like reporting on how you were reporting!

SP: Yes, exactly! Tom McCarthy basically had to become an investigative reporter to do this project. Many times, they were asking us to go back in memory about a decade, and it was hard for us to remember some details. So, Tom would have to triangulate. First, he’d have to ask me, then ask Robby and then ask Mike [Rezendes, played by Mark Ruffalo]. That way, he could keep together exactly what happened, based on our memories.

TCC: Do you hope that the movie brings back attention to investigative journalism? It’s really hard to see something like what happened in Spotlight happen again because of the way the industry is today.

SP: The answer to that is 100 percent. One of the reasons I love this movie is that it’s this wonderful celebration of investigative journalism. I hope it’s a reminder to people of how important it is and what we lose if we don’t have it.

I honestly hope it inspires people to buy their local newspaper because that’s the revenue that supports what we do. I hope that people understand that if you don’t have groups like this to question powerful institutions, this is the kind of tragedy that can result.

TCC: I was surprised by that scene where Michael Keaton’s character tells Liev Schreiber’s that the Spotlight team would spend a year just to figure out which story to cover!

SP: Yeah, you can see why [investigative journalists are] an endangered species. You need an editor and a publisher with a lot of support and a lot of patience and willing to give you resources and time, even if you can’t produce for a long time. And then you just have to hope that what you’re doing is going to have an impact after all the time you spent on it.

TCC: What’s it like for an outsider from Hollywood to be on the awards circuit? You’re rubbing shoulders with the others on the circuit, and there’s some pretty big A-listers around this year.

SP: [McAdams] has been very gracious and generous. She’s invited me as her guest to multiple events. I went to the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes... For me as a reporter, it’s totally fascinating, right? It’s why I love my job. I have a job that gives me access to fascinating people and fascinating places that a lot of other people never get to see.

I feel like I attend all these events as an observer. I feel more like an observer than a participant. I get to sit back and get an inside look at the fascinating world of Hollywood.

TCC: One last thing. Can you talk about the fellowship the Globe is doing with the film’s producers?

SP: This is fantastic. They’re putting $100,000 towards it, and we’re hoping it will be an annual thing. It’s a chance to let an investigative reporter or an investigative reporting team come to the Globe, work here with our Spotlight team reporters on an investigative project.

Again, it’s our attempt to make people realize how important investigative reporting is to try and make sure it has resources, and applications are due at the end of February. It’s a great thing. The movie studio and its partners put up the money!

[If you are interested in the Fellowship, applications are open through Monday, Feb. 29. Spotlight is now in theaters and comes out on DVD/Blu-ray on Feb. 23.]