Spotlight, directed by Tom McCarthy won Best Picture at the 2016 Academy Awards. And, McCarthy won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for that movie as well. For a moment, he was the hottest sh*t in town. He could have directed any movie he pleased. But he didn’t. Instead, he chose to helm the first two episodes of 13 Reasons Why. Why?
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Tom McCarthy had this to say:
I’d just spent four or five months basically hawking my movie [Spotlight]. Being on the awards circuit, you do a lot of talking about work and not really working. I was eager to get behind the camera and work with actors and dig into material. And I really cared about the message of Jay Asher’s book. I have two daughters, 4 and 2 [years old], and was thinking about furthering that conversation and pushing that conversation into the light. It’s like with Spotlight: Who wants to sit around and talk about the possibility that priests are abusing young boys? Who wants to sit around and talk about the fact that high school kids are dealing with everything from sexual abuse to rape to suicide in a very real way? It’s not table conversation and, therefore, many of those conversations get sublimated. And I thought about, “Wow, this book, in a really compelling way, forces us to not only confront, but at the very least, to discuss these issues. And I think the discussion is a big part of making progress.
I agree with everything Tom McCarthy said. 13 Reasons Why is one of the most important TV series ever made because it discusses in a very realistic manner a topic that most people wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing. This isn’t an entertaining show by any stretch of the imagination. It’s disturbing, depressing, thought-provoking and I love it. If you haven’t checked out 13 Reasons Why, catch it on Netflix ASAP.
