First Look: In ‘Conclave,’ the Pope Dies—Then the Tortuous Search for His Successor Begins

These two projects could not be more different in scope. All is quiet Adapted from a seminal novel, a war epic fueled by masterful action sequences. Conclave Based on Harris’s chamber piece, it takes place over just a few days and focuses on the complex election machinations that follow the sudden death of a fictional pope.

As it turns out, this is exactly Berger’s approach. “I want to do things that challenge me in different ways, and I’m often drawn to films that are the opposite of what I’ve done before,” he tells me over Zoom from Macau, China, where he is, yes, filming his next film. “I wanted to get away from the vastness and chaos of the battlefield and go into something very focused.”

Conclave focuses on the embattled Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) as he clashes with ambitious, cunning, and in some cases secretive counterparts as they search for their next leader. Lawrence’s own goal, as Dean of the Conclave, is to create space for the right candidate to get the most votes, whether it’s the rigidly conservative Tedesco (Sergio Castellito), Tremblay is capable of corruption (John Lithgow), the humble (and generous) Bellini (Stanley Tucci), or perhaps most intriguingly the latest addition to the team, Benitez (Carlos Diehz). Many unexpected twists in the story make that job no easy task.