First ‘Conclave’ Trailer Finds Ralph Fiennes in a Thrilling Papal Conspiracy

Focus Features has revealed the first full trailer for its major fall awards contender Conclave, from Academy Award-nominated director Edward Berger (2022 International Feature Film Oscar winner All Quiet on the Western Front) and starring two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes.

In the film, Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, who is tasked with running the covert process of selecting the new Pope after the unexpected death of the beloved current Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy and discovers a secret that could shake the very foundation of The Church.

Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci co-stars as the progressive Cardinal Bellini, an unabashedly passionate and fiery candidate for the papacy. Academy Award nominee John Lithgow plays the ambitious Canadian Cardinal Tremblay, a fierce competitor to the papacy. Isabella Rossellini portrays Sister Agnes, a nun who at first seems invisible as she serves the most powerful patriarchy in the world, yet ultimately serves as a crucial witness to the true nature of that power. The film also features an international roster of acclaimed actors to play the other Cardinals including Italian superstar Sergio Castellitto (Cardinal Tedesco), British actor Lucian Msamati (Cardinal Adeyemi), Irish-born actor Brian F. O’Byrne (O’Malley), and newcomer Carlos Diehz.

The screenplay is written by the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Peter Straughan (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and based on Robert Harris’s best-selling book.

Berger reunites with Academy Award winner Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet on the Western Front) for the film’s score and features cinematography from Stéphane Fontaine (A Prophet, Jackie, Captain Fantastic), production design from Suzie Davies (Mr. Turner, Saltburn), and editing by Nick Emerson (Eileen, Lady Macbeth).

Focus Features will release Conclave in select theaters on November 1 and wide on November 8. Here is the trailer.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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