Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo won’t be silenced in the first intense trailer for their Catholic sex scandal drama “Spotlight.”

The film from director/co-writer Tom McCarthy tells the true story behind the Boston Globe’s investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church. The group of journalists won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 after uncovering the local Boston Archdiocese’s massive cover-up of sexual abuse. “West Wing” scribe Josh Singer co-wrote the film, which has already generated plenty of awards buzz.

The Globe’s reporting eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, who had hidden years of abuse by other priests, and yielded other revelations of molestation and cover-ups around the world.

The movie also stars Rachel McAdams, Brian d’Arcy James, John Slattery, Liev Schreiber and Stanley Tucci.

Open Road’s “Spotlight” will premiere at the Venice Film Festival and screen at the Toronto Film Festival. It hits theaters on November 6, will expand on November 13 and go wide on November 20.

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It’s not often that a director manages to follow his worst film with his best, but even if he weren’t rebounding from “The Cobbler,” Tom McCarthy would have a considerable achievement on his hands with “Spotlight,” a superbly controlled and engrossingly detailed account of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the widespread pedophilia scandals and subsequent cover-ups within the Catholic Church. Very much in the “All the President’s Men”/“Zodiac” mold of slow-building, quietly gripping journalistic procedurals, this measured and meticulous ensemble drama sifts through a daunting pile of evidence to expose not just the Church’s horrific cycles of abuse and concealment, but also its uniquely privileged position in a society that failed its victims at myriad personal, spiritual and institutional levels. The result may be more sobering and scrupulous than it is cathartic or revelatory, but with its strong narrative drive and fine cast, “Spotlight” should receive more than a fair hearing with smarthouse audiences worldwide.