In ‘Fauci,’ a big-screen portrait of a pandemic superstar

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — John Hoffman and Janet Tobias’ “Fauci” is the first big-screen documentary of the nation’s top infectious disease expert and ubiquitous face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s an intimate portrait of a longtime public servant whose notoriety has risen dramatically — and with that, brought heaps of far-right scorn on the veteran of seven White House administrations. To head off possible, maybe inevitable, criticism, “Fauci” is being released with a pointed proviso: that Fauci was not paid for the film, nor had any creative control or financial interests in it. It opened in select theaters Friday, playing only in cinemas that require vaccination for entry.