At Venice Fest, Spotlight Exposes Sex Abuse by Priests, San Francisco Chronicle, September 3, 2015

At Venice Fest, "Spotlight" Exposes Sex Abuse by Priests

San Francisco Chronicle
September 3, 2015

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/At-Venice-fest-Spotlight-exposes-sex-abuse-by-6483183.php

Stanley Tucci and Thomas McCarthy watch as Mark Ruffalo poses for photographers at the photo call for the film Spotlight during the 72nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. The 72nd edition of the festival runs until Sept. 12. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Stanley Tucci and Thomas McCarthy watch as Mark Ruffalo poses for photographers at the photo call for the film Spotlight during the 72nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. The 72nd edition of the festival runs until Sept. 12. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Specifically, the American director would like the pontiff to see his new film "Spotlight," a fact-based expose of clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up by the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Boston.

The movie stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams as real-life Boston Globe reporters, and premieres Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.

McCarthy says he's excited and apprehensive about holding the film's first public screening in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy. But he doesn't expect to be getting rave reviews from the church.