'Conclave' Interview: Ralph Fiennes and Edward Berger

(L to R) Director Edward Berger and Ralph Fiennes talk ‘Conclave’.

Opening in theaters on October 25th is the new mystery-thriller ‘Conclave’, which is based on the novel of the same name by author Robert Harris and was directed by Edward Berger (‘All Quiet on the Western Front’).

The film stars Ralph Fiennes (‘The Menu’), Stanley Tucci (‘The Devil Wears Prada’), John Lithgow (‘Killers of the Flower Moon’), and Isabella Rossellini (‘Spaceman’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ralph Fiennes and director Edward Berger about their work on ‘Conclave,’ Fiennes first reaction to the screenplay and his approach to his character, the tone and themes of the movie, and what audience members should expect from this theatrical experience.

Related Article: Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult Talk Dark Comedy ‘The Menu’

Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger's 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

Moviefone: To begin with, Ralph, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and your approach to playing this character?

Ralph Fiennes: Well, I was hooked by the screenplay. It was a page-turner. The character of Lawrence, he’s central to the story as a witness, as a man with complex feelings of inner turmoil, inner contradiction. He’s suddenly a man thrown almost reluctantly into running a conclave. Having a Catholic upbringing, although no longer practicing Catholic, it provoked a massive sort of retrospective. I must unearth all those bits of my mother taking me to first communion and talking to me about the teachings of Jesus. All the stuff that was somehow back in my childhood had to be brought right forward and to be used as a source of, I guess, research or something on which to think about. But it was a page-turner to read, and it was gripping, and I had no doubt that I wanted to do it.

(L to R) Director Edward Berger and actor Ralph Fiennes on the set of 'Conclave', a Focus Features release. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Focus Features ©2024 All Rights Reserved.

MF: Edgar, can you talk about the specific tone you wanted to create for this film and the themes you wanted to explore as a director?

Edward Berger: I was really drawn to this movie because it dealt with the question of doubt. I was able to sort of visualize whatever is going on, the interior journey that Ralph finds his character is going through, which is a journey of doubt, a crisis of faith, and to visualize that was very interesting. At the same time, it was my opportunity to make a political thriller, and very much inspired by the (Alan J.) Pakula movies from the ’70s, ‘All the President’s Men’, and ‘The Parallax View’. Those movies, how they play with dark, and light, and shadow, and color, and a pace of editing, and a precision was really sort of a Northern Star for us.

(L to R) Brían F. O’Byrne as Cardinal O’Malley and Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger’s ‘Conclave’, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

MF: Finally, Ralph, what would you say to audience members sitting down now to see this movie in a theater to prepare them for the theatrical experience they are about to have?

RF: Well, you’re going to get a wonderful insight into the workings of The Vatican. You have a central set which is incredibly cinematic, which is a recreation of the Sistine Chapel, and it looks phenomenal. It’s a set. We can’t shoot in the real Sistine Chapel. It’s one of the great wonders of the world. It’s been recreated brilliantly by the people who’ve made the set and by the visual effects crew to finish it on film. But that sort of scale is extraordinary to have. You will fail to appreciate it on a small screen. There’s something about The Vatican and other big locations. We shot in the Palace at Caserta outside Naples, various locations in and around Rome, where Edward found other locations to create this sense of scale. It’s huge, The Vatican. I mean, you look across at St. Peter’s, this huge church, and all the buildings around it. That’s what’s great about film, isn’t it? You have shots that give a sense of the epic, which are juxtaposed against the intimate, and the constrained, and the enclosed, and the close-ups. That equation of the epic scale, visual shots that hold a great sense of space and depth against the human face in close-up. That tension is best experienced in the cinema, and you get it massively in the way Edward has made this film.

What is the plot of ‘Conclave’?

Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), tasked with organizing the election of the successor to the deceased pope, discovers the former pope had a secret that must be uncovered, concerning one or more of the candidates to succeed to the papacy.