EXCLUSIVE – ‘Conclave’ director Edward Berger’s new film about the secret papal election process could cause surprises and shocks for traditional Catholics.

Starring a powerhouse cast including Ralph Fiennes as Dean of the College of Cardinals, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Lucian Msamati, Focus Features’ “Conclave” is a fascinating, fictional behind-the-scenes look at how cardinals gather (and sometimes conspire) to select a new Pope, based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name. Isabella Rosellini also has a memorable role as Sister Agnes, quietly observing the machinations of the cardinals throughout the film.

“And we see it in the beginning of the movie: Stanley Tucci refers to a chess game, and I thought this movie looks like a well-constructed architectural chess game where people are competing for the top job – the throne is vacant and people are getting their daggers out to take that throne,” director Edward Berger told Fox News Digital.

“That is automatically a very competitive situation and a very interesting and very exciting situation,” he continued. “Plus, you have a wonderfully compelling inner journey for Ralph Fiennes’ character, full of struggle and doubt that he tries to overcome. So it is a very complex script that continues to surprise you and has many surprises and twists for the audience.”

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(Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Berger said that in preparation for filming he often sought the help of religious advisors, including Francesco Bonomo, who helped fill in the blanks by explaining how people vote, what oaths are taken, what prayers are said, how to put your hands hold and how you kneel, among other things.

“And we tried to get that as accurate as possible,” Berger told Fox News Digital. “And for what is unknown, we filled it with our reality, because it is a movie after all.”

“We went on a lot of location scouts in Rome and shot in Rome, and that influences the shooting every day,” he added. “You look out the window and you see priests with briefcases going to work, you see nuns going to work, and you realize, ‘Oh, it’s all just people going to work, people going to work, and it makes part of their daily lives.

The film often humanizes the cardinals by showing them on their phones, vaping, breaking down in tears, etc., as they compete for the papacy in the wake of the death of the most recent pope.

“And so we try to represent the Vatican as a human being,” Berger said. “These are people with problems, with doubts, with questions, with insecurities, with vices, with past sins and problems that they are trying to overcome. So that’s how we try to show them, just like a human drama. After the investigation, we spoke to many cardinals beforehand who gave us advice, but it is clear that at some point the doors of the conclave close and no one wants to tell you what is going on.”

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For those who haven’t read Harris’ “Conclave,” the film’s ending may come as a bit of a shock. Some Catholic bloggers have dismissed the book as “anti-Catholic” or used the word “woke” when discovering how the papal election ultimately plays out and takes a progressive turn. Berger said the film was in no way intended to offend the church when asked how he thinks traditional Catholics will react to the feature.

“Well, we live in a world that has forgotten how to discuss and disagree and have good discourse,” Berger told Fox News Digital, later adding: “For me, I’m open to the arguments of people and understand what they feel and how they feel. to think about it and learn from it and possibly revise my ideas and further my own attitude, further my own education.”

“And this is not a destruction of the church,” he said. “We portray people as people, everyone is human and everyone is equal. I know a lot of cardinals and a lot of Catholics that I’ve talked to in Europe have said that they’re incredibly eager to see the movie and that they’re going to just watch the movie and see it for what it is: a movie. This isn’t necessarily the truth, but it’s a movie version.

Pope Francis attends a Mass at the Esplanade of Tasitolu in Dili, East Timor, on September 10, 2024. (Tiziana FABI / AFP) (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images))

Some Catholic reviews of the film, such as that of Angelus News, noted that ultra-conservative Italian Cardinal Tedesco is one of several cardinals portrayed as a “bad guy.” In one scene he expresses concern that there are too many Muslims in Europe and that the Church is too tolerant of other religions.

Some priests, meanwhile, are outright warning Catholics not to see the film.

This film “is about eroding salvation, about mocking salvation, this is about discrediting the Holy Roman Catholic Church,” p. Jonathan Meyer of All Saints Parish in Guilford, Indiana, said in a YouTube video message, with some commentators calling the film a “mockery” of the Church.

But the film is a hit with mainstream critics and currently sits at a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film’s suspense factor and top performances definitely make it an Oscar candidate, they suggest.

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‘Conclave’ also addresses an important question: how do men behave when they gain power? The answer, as suggested by the characters’ often murderous power plays, is not admirable.

“It’s a hugely important decision,” Berger told Fox News Digital. “That position is extremely powerful – it’s probably one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful position in the world. That vacancy will create a power vacuum, and that power vacuum must be filled. In some people that will arouse ambition – these are very dirty men and one of them will be that powerful person, and not everyone is immune to ambition. Sometimes ambition brings out the darkest sides of things, and sometimes ambition can be fruitful and positive to turn it into a human drama equal to any vacant position in the world.”

Much like in reality, the film portrays how once the cardinals have successfully chosen the next Pope, this is signaled by white smoke coming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

With the US presidential election approaching, it was hard to ignore the timing of the film’s release.

Poll workers from the Maryland Board of Elections pass empty booths during the Maryland state primaries at a polling place in Annapolis, Maryland, on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON/AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

“When you make a film, you always want to make it of its time and you are open to current events, and you want to make it part of the film,” Berger said of the film’s intriguing timing, calling his film a “political drama.”

“We’ve been developing this movie for eight years, so there’s certainly no intention, and you can’t plan for a movie to come out this year. It’s just the truth. But it’s the reality of what we think.” live now. When reality is reflected in a film, it fits its time, and I think it makes it interesting. Whether this film takes place in the Vatican, in Washington, DC, or in a boardroom I think it is a universal truth that occurs everywhere: when a position is vacant and needs to be filled, different political agendas or different agendas that are going to conflict with each other, and that’s what we’re trying to show. in the movie.”

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As for his own personal faith walk, Berger shared that he was raised Protestant, but was always interested in different religions and their rituals, especially the Catholic Church, because it is “so mysterious and has so much mysticism around it and so much, in a manner, drama, theatricality, and that lends itself to a film.”

Should the Catholic Church evolve?

“There would be no tradition, identity, history or culture, so it’s a very important part of our cultures,” Berger told Fox News Digital. “Secondly, my personal opinion would be that I think it is always good to move with the times, that you should not be afraid to move with the times and open yourself up to different aspects of modernity, such as a female presence, certainly would not be detrimental to any organization.”

‘Conclave’ is in theaters now.