Ralph Fiennes said that he undertook extensive research to prepare for the role of a cardinal in Edward Berger’s Conclave.
Speaking at a press conference at the Rome Film Festival today (October 26), where the film played in the Grand Public strand, Fiennes told reporters: “I spoke to two cardinals and quite a few priests. I wanted an insight into what it was to be a Catholic priest, to take those vows.
”I became aware from my conversations that you often encounter challenges to your own sense of faith in your life as a priest. So this inner conflict that [his character Cardinal] Lawrence has, I felt that was a plausible one for women or men who have taken their vows to encounter, because they are human.
“I met people of great faith, great kindness and integrity talking to me wisely about the Church. I didn’t encounter any partisan or any quality of defensiveness at all and that was helpful to me.”
Based on Robert Harris’ novel, Conclave follows the closely-guarded process by which the Catholic College of Cardinals elects the Church’s new Pope. Fiennes stars as a Cardinal wracked with self-doubt, trying to keep the conclave running smoothly. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, Sergio Castellitto and Isabella Rossellini co-star.
Discussing what he learned about the Catholic Church from his research, Fiennes said: “It is easy for us to point to [the Church’s] transgressions but it has provided huge support to communities and families and there are good people in the Catholic Church. I slightly resist the suggestion that the faithful are allowing the transgressions.
“I was bought up a Catholic, my mother was a committed Catholic [and] I rebelled against it when I was 13, but I’ve always had a curiosity about faith, and in researching and talking to people of faith, some of them are asking profound questions.”
On the Church’s battle between tradition and modernisation that is dramatised in the film, Fiennes added: “I think that it is often human nature to resist change. The sense of ritual and tradition and repetition, of what your mother or your grandmother did - its human to feel security within certain rituals or structures. But those things should be challenged. It’s hard for people because those things have provided support over a lifetime.”
Focus has US rights on the film, which is produced by House Productions and FilmNation Entertainment. It is written by Peter Straughan and premiered at Toronto this year.
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