Director Edward Berger knew that when he cast John Lithgow as Joseph Cardinal Tremblay, a pivotal character in his acclaimed thriller “Conclave,” he’d absolutely nail it. And, honestly, when has he not? The only awards looking to join his mantle full of Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards are an Oscar and a Grammy. And he’s been nominated multiple times for those. Incredibly, the Focus Features release will mark an unexpected milestone in a glorious career, his first Best Picture nominated film since 1983’s “Terms of Endearment.”
READ MORE: For his contemporary “Conclave,” Edward Berger embraces the discourse
After the death of the pope, Tremblay almost immediately comes into conflict with Thomas Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes). As Dean of the Colledge of the Cardinals, Lawrence’s job is to administer the conclave to select a new pope and Trembly is one of a few key cardinals vying for it. Knowing Tremblay’s position and background, Lithgow admits he wanted to fool the audience as much as he possibly could.
“The odds were stacked against him from the beginning,” Lithgow suggests during an awards season Q&A earlier this month. “it doesn’t have to be explained in the film, but he is the Cardinal Camerlengo. He has an actual official position in the College of Cardinals, and that is he administers the revenues and properties of the Vatican. I mean that’s like a gigantic CFO position, enormously important. And in a film like this, you just know that that’s got to be the villain.”
As the audience laughs Lithgow notes, “Probably a good idea that we didn’t explain the word carmalengo because that would’ve given everything away. So, I was always trying to think, to constantly be persuading people that I’m innocent for the drama of the story, but also because that’s probably how Trembley was constantly behaving as Carmalengo. He had great proximity to the opportunity for corruption. He was in charge of moving money around. He knew how to do it, and he had been doing it for a long time, otherwise though he wouldn’t have been given that position. So, that to me was a fascinating aspect of his character, that he was vulnerable.”
Lithgow adds, “We all are vulnerable to temptation. He was a cardinal, a high priest of the church, therefore he went to confession. It was fascinating to me to ruminate on whether he confessed anything in confession.”
Spoiler alert: Tremblay is not as innocent as he’d like to portray himself to his peers. And, in many ways, Lithgow thinks that must have “tormented” him. Moreover, it makes him a fascinating character. One whose own narrative was decidedly complex to an actor who has played iconic characters in projects such as “The World According to Garp,” “Footloose,” “Bombshell,” and “The Crown,” among others.
“He was so close to getting the thing he wanted, the thing that all of us Pope contenders wanted,” Lithgow ruminates. “He was way ahead in the election. It looked like it was going to be him, and then he suffers the greatest catastrophe and humiliation of his entire life and he cannot leave because he is in the Conclave. He might just as well be in prison. And therefore you just see him in a state of terrible humiliation. That’s his story. And it’s one of 10 very compelling stories that run concurrently through the film.”
“Conclave” is still in theaters and available for digital download
