Conclave author reveals Ralph Fiennes was third choice for lead role in Oscar nominated film – behind two other A-list Hollywood actors

By JAMES HANNING

Published: 00:25 BST, 1 June 2025 | Updated: 00:25 BST, 1 June 2025

His acclaimed performance as a liberal cardinal in Conclave secured him an Oscar nomination – but Ralph Fiennes was not the first choice for the part.

Both Hollywood legend Robert de Niro and Spanish star Javier Bardem were in line to take the lead role, author Robert Harris has revealed.

But negotiations with both actors’ representative broke down, opening the way for 62-year-old Fiennes.

His casting also meant a change to his character. In Harris’s original 2016 novel, the dean of the council of cardinals was an Italian called Jacopo Baldassare Lomeli. But once Fiennes was cast, he became the English Cardinal Thomas Lawrence.

The author told the Hay-on-Wye literary festival: ‘For a long time, Robert De Niro was supposed to play the Fiennes role, but that fell through, and then Javier Bardem was supposed to do it.’

But again a deal could not be struck, so producers turned to Fiennes, best known for playing evil Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter blockbusters and M in the Bond films.

It was Fiennes and director Edward Berger who decided to change the character’s nationality, Harris revealed.

‘They came to lunch and told me they wanted to change the nationality of Cardinal Lomeli, because Ralph wanted to play an Englishman. I looked across the table and thought, ‘‘Do I really want to lose Ralph Fiennes?’’ And of course, it doesn’t make any difference at all.’

Conclave’s Ralph Fiennes was acclaimed for his appearance – but he was in reality third choice for the lead role

Fiennes and director Edward Berger decided to change the character’s nationality, it was also revealed

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost addresses the crowd on the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time

Harris – whose other bestselling novels include Fatherland and Enigma – also told the Hay audience that film producers had been circling around his novel before he had finished writing it.

But after the initial clamour, the executives decided to hold back the film’s release – which turned out to be fortuitous as it ended up in cinemas just before the real Vatican conclave to select Pope Francis’s successor.

Harris, 68, said: ‘They sat on it for a year to prevent it being swamped by other films, which was a stroke of genius as it got a lot of attention. There was this rolling interest in conclaves, and I found myself peculiarly having written a primer on conclaves.’

Among those who watched the film this year was American Cardinal Robert Prevost, who saw it just before the conclave voted him to become Pope, subsequently taking the name Leo XIV.

Conclave, which also starred Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but secured only the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for Peter Straughan’s script. 

Two Oscar voters later told trade magazine Variety that they hadn’t backed Fiennes as they wrongly believed he had won the award before.

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Conclave author reveals Ralph Fiennes was third choice for lead role in Oscar nominated film – behind two other A-list Hollywood actors

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