An Oscar For ‘Conclave’
The film directed by Edward Berger won an Academy Award for “Best Adapted Screenplay.”
“Conclave”, the gripping film by Austrian-Swiss director Edward Berger about a papal election, won an Oscar for “Best Adapted Screenplay” in Los Angeles on Sunday evening. Screenwriter Peter Straughan accepted the coveted statue and expressly thanked British Penguin Random House author Robert Harris, on whose eponymous novel the film is based. „Thanks, Robert Harris, for your beautiful book,” said Straughan. “We’re all standing on your shoulders.” Straughan’s “Conclave” screenplay has already been honored at the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, the Bafta Awards and the USC Scripter Awards in recent weeks and months.
“Conclave” by Robert Harris was originally published by Penguin Random House in 2016. Hutchinson Heinemann published the novel in the U.K., Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, and Heyne-Verlag in Germany – and as is so often the case with Robert Harris novels, “Conclave” became a top bestseller for Penguin Random House publishers. In an interview with the US film website “Indie Wire,” screenwriter Peter Straughan said that he had remained very faithful to the original novel, as the book was written in a very precise and controlled manner. “It worked well as a thriller plot.” He said that often, he has to heavily adapt the original book to create a screenplay, but not so with “Conclave.”
Bertelsmann not only published the book behind the movie “Conclave,” but also involved in its production. “Conclave” was filmed entirely in Italy in 2023, and Fremantle assisted in its production. Fremantle’s Italian subsidiary Wildside acted as a “service producer,” which means that it did not contribute to the script, but did a lot of the actual production work on location. Some of the filming took place at the Cinecittà film studios in Rome, with which Fremantle had signed a comprehensive usage agreement in 2022. Fremantle and Edward Berger have long-standing ties: In 2015, the Austrian-Swiss director shot five episodes of the internationally successful TV series “Deutschland 83” for UFA Fiction and RTL Deutschland, and at the beginning of 2023, Fremantle announced a cooperation agreement with Berger’s new production company Nine Hours, securing Fremantle access to their TV productions.
“Conclave” starring Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini celebrated its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival 2024. The film by Focus Features, which opened in cinemas on October 25, 2024, has been a long-running hit ever since and has grossed close to US$100 million worldwide.
