A Boston media relations manager, portrayed in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight as complicit in covering up the city’s Catholic Church abuse scandal, has had his name cleared after distributors admitted the film used “fictionalised” dialogue.
Jack Dunn, who works for Boston College, said he has experienced “tremendous pain” after Tom McCarthy’s real-life drama showed him reacting to news of sex abuse at the school by downplaying its scale. In the film, the character of Dunn tells Michael Keaton’s journalist: “It’s a big school, Robbie, you know that. And we’re talking about seven alleged victims over, what, eight years?”
Dunn told Boston’s WCVB news channel he was physically sick after watching the scene in a local cinema last year. “This insinuation of being in the know about the biggest scandal in the history of the Church – it was just devastating, because it wasn’t true,” he said. “I got through it because I’m a person of faith.”
Spotlight’s distributor, Open Road, initially said it was confident Dunn’s complaint was “without merit”. But on Tuesday the company issued a new statement in which it admitted making up the dialogue spoken by the Dunn character.
“As is the case with most movies based on historical events, Spotlight contains fictionalised dialogue that was attributed to Mr Dunn for dramatic effect,” the statement said. “We acknowledge that Mr Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the film-makers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”
Spotlight took the prizes for best picture and best original screenplay at last month’s Oscars.
