An upcoming movie on the sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston
has caused one screenwriter to worry that the film could exploit sex
abuse for the sake of Hollywood awards.
“I have very big concerns about making the molestation of children the
subject of entertainment,” screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi told CNA April
10.
“These are real people’s lives that have gotten ruined. We want to
really pray that this movie doesn’t end up victimizing the victims all
over again by turning their suffering into spectacle.”
Nicolosi, a former religious sister, is the founder of the Act One
training program for Christians seeking careers in the entertainment
industry.
She said she believes a movie about the abuse scandal is similar to
screenplays about sex trafficking – both of which are not suitable for
entertainment. “They're never okay. You always feel that it’s a subject
that should have been done in a documentary, not as a narrative.”
DreamWorks Studio and Participant Media announced on April 2 that they
have acquired the film rights to the Boston Globe’s reporting on sex
abuse cover-ups in the Archdiocese of Boston.
The investigation found
that Church authorities placed known abusers back in ministry. The
coverage led to the 2003 resignation of Archbishop of Boston Cardinal
Bernard Law.
Dreamworks president of production Holly Bario said the Boston Globe
coverage of the abuse scandal “opened the door to a bigger story that
had worldwide ramifications.”
“The story of how this team of editors and reporters came to uncover
the truth will make a dramatic and compelling film,” Bario said.
However, Nicolosi was skeptical that journalists would be the focus of the movie.
“As a dramatist, I’m trained to go for the highest stakes. The fact is,
that in this story the tragic, awful, terrible thing is that there’s
pederasty, young boys being preyed upon by homosexual priests. That’s
the real tragedy of this story.”
“People covered it up, it’s icky, it’s awful, but that’s not the real tragedy,” she said.
Tom McCarthy will direct the movie and co-write the script with Josh
Singer. McCarthy’s involvement was a point in the project’s favor,
Nicolosi said She praised him as “a great writer” for his work on the
movies “The Station Agent,” “The Visitor” and “Up.”
“This guy is a humane writer and he’s very smart,” she said. “I don’t
think you could pick a better writer to do this thing. But I don’t think
it has to be done and I think they’re choosing the wrong format.”
Nicolosi believes that the subject matter of the film means it is
likely already a top contender for prestigious Hollywood awards like the
Academy Award and the Golden Globe.
“This is going to be the kind of project that they’re going to relish,”
she said of Hollywood leaders, adding that there are some in Hollywood
who would want to make the movie into a film “about the wicked, evil
Catholic Church.”
“I am hoping the writer is more humane than that. He is more humane,” she said of McCarthy.
She said the movie will very likely lose money. “Nobody wants this
story as entertainment. You’re looking at a very small audience
already.”
Nonetheless, Nicolosi said Catholics should give the movie “a fair
hearing” and try to hope that the movie adds “something new.”
She said there is “no big mystery” why institutions cover up scandal and abuse. Rather, it is abuse that must be explained.
“What possibly could we as a society learn from why these children were
victimized?” she asked. “That, to me, is the question. What happened to
people, that they prey on children?”
Nicolosi emphasized the difficulty of the project, saying “you couldn’t
have talked me into touching this subject as a writer with at 10-foot
pole.”
“It’s going to be a grueling, awful journey into this thing. It’s as far from entertainment as I can imagine.”