Although it seems ripe for probing, you simply can’t go ripping right into the pedophile priest scandal; it’s a tender subject that requires a little loosening up first—coming at it with a jackhammer approach won’t get you anywhere. Okay, now we’re grossing ourselves out, which is really saying something. Here: Production companies Anonymous Content and Rocklin/Faust are at work on a feature film about the Catholic Church and its decades-long cover-up involving New England priests who were caught sexually abusing minors.
As we hinted at with our truly shameful protracted metaphor up top, it’s a sensitive topic that’s sure to anger many if it’s not handled properly, which is why it’s being approached from an angle reminiscent of All The President’s Men—telling the story through the experiences of the Boston Globe reporters who were awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for their role in uncovering it. The film will examine the yearlong investigation by a team of journalists that, coincidentally, includes Ben Bradlee, Jr., son of the famed Washington Post editor who was portrayed in All The President’s Men by Jason Robards. The reporters have signed over their life rights to the makers of the film and intend to cooperate fully in its production.
As Deadline (who really has all the good stuff today, so thanks) says, it could be an interesting way to frame a story that’s already become so embedded in the international consciousness—although we’re not sure the angle that many of the reporters are Catholics themselves, and were thus “conflicted” as they did their research, is as dramatic as they suggest. Naturally, the mere hint that the film will be made has already set off a quiet firestorm of comments from Catholics, some of whom compare it to other hurdles they’ve overcome like "Judas, Good Friday, and Martin Luther." (Many others simply aver that it will be really, really boring.) Safe to say that if and when this does get made, it will be fairly divisive.