TORONTO – Conclave, the film adaptation of Robert Harris’ 2016 fictional novel about internal conflict and political maneuvering within the Vatican, was released in theatres on October 25th. The film, directed by German born Edward Berger opened in 1,500 theaters, and brought in $6.6 million domestically [on opening weekend] following its premier at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado – a notable launching pad for previous successful Oscar Campaigns. 

The film according to Harris and his readership is “mostly” faithful to the source material, except for a couple significant creative choices. In an interview with Deadline, Berger revealed that the main character [Cardinal Jacopo Baldassare Lomeli] was in the first draft of the script and was the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia – as he was in the source material. “There was an openness in my head [however]…that I thought this person could be from anywhere, or Italian as he is in the book and in the first draft”. The problem however, according to Berger, was that he didn’t know many Italian actors between the age of 60-70 who could also speak English well.

An odd framework from which to approach casting, given that actors can be made to look older than they are through makeup and prosthetic. Not to mention that with new film technologies – as was the case with DeNiro in The Irishman – visual effects technology can de-age an actor for the screen. Setting the obvious aside, Berger’s claim to not know many Italian actors in the preferred age demographic is either disingenuous or lazy.

Toni Servillo is 65, one of Italy’s best actors and even starred in the Oscar nominated film The Great Beauty. He speaks English. Pierfrancesco Favino and Kim Rossi Stuart are some other accomplished/popular actors in that age range. Favino even starred in a similar project, the global smash hit film The Da Vinci Code. Favino’s English is also very good. Something a competent casting director with a heartbeat would be aware of. A casting director might have also suggested a slightly older actor, like the legendary Giancarlo Giannini who recently played Pope Leo XIII in Cabrini.

All this is made more disappointing upon learning that the only other change to the source material was another Italian character, Cardinal Aldo Bellini. In the film, Bellini is instead an American and played by Stanley Tucci. A lesser affront but patronizing nonetheless. In the case of Ralph Fiennes playing the lead role, it’s hard to understand why Berger feels that a Vatican power broker is better played by a Brit than an Italian, given the history and placement of the Vatican and its personnel. Rome is the center of the Catholic Church, and key Vatican posts are often best filled by someone local.

In his own words, Berger says that the English, “are wonderfully polite. They listen to everybody and probably quietly make their moves rather than loudly.” His comments echoed Fiennes’ who made similar claims when asked about the change: “He seemed to be a man who felt very English to me, or full of the characteristics of a certain type of Englishman who keeps his thoughts close to his chest. Inscrutable if you like”.

To summarize, a British novelist wrote a “wonderfully polite” and “inscrutable” Italian character that didn’t seem specifically Italian to the filmmakers. This duo would’ve done well to practice the inscrutability and diplomacy of the character they so dearly admired. It was a commercial decision. It’s fine. But just say you wanted the English speaking market. The rest is nonsense.         

Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix