For "Spotlight" Actor, Boston Marathon Means Something Extra

BOSTON — The Boston Marathon has a unique way of letting people reclaim what was once thought lost.

For renowned stage and film actor Brian d'Arcy James, that's true on multiple levels. James qualified for Boston in 2019 with his running of Chicago, the third major marathon he's run. Having grown up visiting his sister in Chestnut Hill and later starring in an Oscar-winning film about the city, this one was always going to mean a little something special.

Then, the pandemic.

The 2020 Boston Marathon was postponed to September — the first delay in the race's 124-year history — then canceled. This year's running was pushed to October, six months later than it has traditionally been held.

James felt the pandemic's cruelty firsthand, contracting the virus early and even losing friends and colleagues to it. It's had an effect on his body and psyche — he won't be exploring Boston outside those 26.2 miles, wary of a potential breakthrough case. "It's been kind of monkish life for me," he said in a phone call four days before the race.

Still, he was selected as one of the reduced field of 20,000 runners. His lungs — as vital to his stage work as to his running — have recovered. He's ready get back out there.

The Marathon, after all, has a healing quality to it.

"That's inescapable to me," he said. "The parallels of my coming back into the world, my trepidation with it, my excitement with it, it's all kind of a parallel for the running of this race."

Many Bostonians are already familiar with James, whether they know it or not. His understated performance as mustachioed Boston Globe reporter Matt Carroll in "Spotlight," the 2015 film chronicling the paper's seismic reporting on the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal that won Best Picture, helped ground the film so many Bostonians viewed as a source of pride. And Bostonians, as you know, are a proud people.

"Having that as part of my history and my career is such a badge of honor," he said.

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Because of that, James, also a famed stage actor who played Shrek in "Shrek The Musical" and the original King George III in "Hamilton," has a unique relationship to the city. He calls Boston "a thread that weaves through my own personal story," having visited his sister at Boston College when he was a youngster. It was the city that opened the eyes of the Saginaw, Mich., boy to what the world was like outside of his hometown.

"Boston represents that place for me where those steps were taken," James said.

He's in Connecticut now, training for a course he's never run. The layout of the Boston Marathon differs from New York and Chicago, where the races primarily take place in the city. Boston itself factors into the race differently.

"There's a sense of the city becoming a participant in kind of a mythic way," James said.

The city and its residents fuel the runners like a nutrition bar.

"I've experienced that in different cities, but Boston being the high bar, to be able to do it here is going to be really special," he said.

The marathon, though delayed, couldn't be happening at a better time. There's something regenerative about running, and that's what James said people need right now.

"One of the things about running marathons that has been so touching and moving to me is this real symbiotic relationship between the individual and the community," he said. "And that sense of community is something we really need to embrace right now, not only literally because we all need to come out of our homes and start participating in the world, but also in the sense of how we view each other and view the world.

"We're trying to find ways to understand, wrap our heads around and embrace the idea of the community," James continued. "And there's no better way to experience that than running through the streets from Hopkinton into Boston."

The 2021 Boston Marathon is Oct. 11. Read the latest on Patch's 2021 Boston Marathon hub.

James will be streaming to a household near you before his legs stop feeling sore. He's got a role in Marvel's new series "Hawkeye" on Disney+ — the notoriously tight-lipped studio has him under lock and key as to any details. "I'm not sure I actually did it!" he joked.

In December he'll be checking off a couple bucket list items in Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" remake. James is playing Sergeant Krupke, who he boasts is promoted from simply Officer Krupke in other editions.

James is especially excited about his work behind the camera as executive producer for "Smallwood," a CBS sitcom about the true story of a laid-off factory worker from his hometown who became a champion bowler.

There must be something James can relate to in a guy from Saginaw who ends up breaking through.

Actor. Producer. Award winner.

It's time to add Boston Marathoner to that list.

"I cannot wait," he said. "I really cannot wait."

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi.