Latest news with #PeterStraughan
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Robert Harris: Why Conclave should have elected an older pope
The author of Conclave has joked that he wishes cardinals had chosen an older pope to increase his chances of seeing another round of revived popularity in his book. Robert Harris said Pope Francis's death had elevated him from a journalist into an unlikely papal commentator who was regularly called in to offer expert insight. His novel Conclave, first published in 2016, also rode a wave of popularity on the back of its recent film adaptation. The 68-year-old told the Hay Festival: 'From my point of view it would have been better if the Conclave had gone on for one or two more days and if they had elected an older pope because I feel as though I have written a Christmas number one which will keep coming back. 'We will have to wait until the next Conclave which may be after my time.' He added: 'I feel like I have suddenly become a most unlikely expert on the papacy, not a role I really ever expected to play. 'But now we can all move on.' The author praised Peter Straughan, whose screenwriting credits include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, for a 'brilliant adaptation' released to critical acclaim in 2024. 'He kept a lot of the dialogue, characters and story, but he boiled it down and kept what was best – he did a terrific job,' Mr Harris said, adding that director Edward Berger was 'wonderful'. Mr Harris said Robert De Niro and Javier Bardem had been pegged for the role of Cardinal Lawrence before Ralph Fiennes was chosen. 'That speech that he delivers – 'there will be no need for faith' – is just so brilliantly done,' the author said of Mr Fiennes, revealing that the actor and director had asked to change the character's nationality from Spanish to English. 'I looked across the table and I thought do I really want to lose Ralph Fiennes? No, make him English it won't make any difference. And of course it doesn't make any difference at all,' the author said. Looking back at the revival of interest in his book, he said: 'I found myself peculiarly having written a sort of primer. 'So much so that the new pope watched the Conclave movie on the eve of the Conclave so that he knew what was coming.' Pope Leo XIV watched the film to 'know how to behave', according to his brother. John Prevost, 71, who lives in Chicago, told news reporters that he had asked his brother as a joke whether he had watched the film, and the future pope confirmed he had. 'His brother is one of those great brothers who clearly just blurts out anything,' Mr Harris said, adding: 'He could be a source of great amusement in the years to come.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Adolescence writer to join Sam Mendes's Beatles films
Weeks after the four leading cast members of Sam Mendes's forthcoming Beatles films were announced, it has been reported that the Oscar-winning director has secured three writers to join the production. Award-winning British writers Jez Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow), Peter Straughan (Conclave) and Jack Thorne (Adolescence) will join the four biopics, which are expected to hit the big screen in April 2028. Thorne may be most recognised for his hit Netflix series Adolescence, which he co-created with Stephen Graham. When it debuted on Netflix earlier this year, the series sparked global conversations around the dangers of social media on young people and landed itself top on Netflix's 10 most-watched English series of all time. Thorne has also written the screenplay for films including Enola Holmes and The Swimmers. In the world of TV he's worked alongside director Shane Meadows in the 2010 drama miniseries This Is England and on the adaptation of Philip Pullman's hit children's novels His Dark Materials. The Olivier Award-winning playwright also wrote Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (2016) and, most recently, National Theatre's The Motive and the Cue (2023), which was directed by Mendes. Academy Award winner Straughan will also be joining as a screenwriter, having just won Best Adapted Screenplay for Edward Berger's Vatican thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini. The Oscar-award wining film follows the secret and mysterious ritual behind the election of a new Pope. For TV, Straughan adapted Hilary Mantel's bestselling novel Wolf Hall. The series starred Damian Lewis and was nominated for multiple awards, winning the BAFTA for Best Drama Series in 2016. He also wrote its sequel, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Butterworth is an award-winning playwright who wrote the 2017 play The Ferryman, for which he took home the Tony for Best Play. He later wrote The Hills of California, which just received seven Tony nominations, including for best play (both were directed by Mendes). For screen, Butterworth has written the scripts for James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari (2019), the James Bond film Spectre (2015), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). The Beatles series will include four separate films, each focusing on a different member of the group, and stars Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. Mendes, the director behind films such as Skyfall, has been developing this unique take on the Fab Four for years, claiming that it 'was too big for one film'. In creating four films, he has stated that he wishes to create the 'first binge-able theatrical experience'. This is the first time Apple, the Beatles's record company and the two living band members, McCartney and Starr, have granted the rights to their stories and music for a scripted film.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How the ‘Conclave' team recreated the top-secret Vatican ceremony to elect a new pope
The death of Pope Francis last month sparked renewed interest in the Oscar-winning movie Conclave. Now streaming on Amazon's Prime Video service and available to rent or buy at several other distribution platforms, viewership of Edward Berger's 2024 drama spiked over the past two weeks, with an increase of more than 3,200 percent in minutes viewed week over week, according to Luminate, which tracks online streaming data. Based on the novel by Robert Harris, Conclave focuses on a fictional series of events following the death of the pope. Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence, who leads the selection process and must navigate warring factions and agendas within the Church. The Focus Features release received eight Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Fiennes, and Best Supporting Actress for Isabella Rossellini. It won Best Adapted Screenplay for Peter Straughan, its only Oscar victory at this year's ceremony. More from GoldDerby Jenna Ortega and Robert De Niro to star in David O. Russell film, Rina Sawayama boards 'John Wick' spinoff, and more of today's top news stories Tony Talk: Breaking down those surprise nominations and early winner predictions for 'Maybe Happy Ending,' 'Sunset Boulevard,' and more 'Chef's Table: Legends': How José Andrés, Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, and Jamie Oliver are changing the world through food 'I was never interested in coming at this from the outside with an axe to hack it down,' Straughan told Gold Derby about his process in an interview this year. 'The thing I found so interesting about the book was that it's a critique, amongst other things, of the Catholic Church, but from within the Church. The characters are believers who are members of the Church. I found that really interesting.' Part of the allure of Conclave during awards season, and now again with the pope's death making international headlines, was its look behind the curtain of papal tradition. 'It's the most secretive process, the most secretive election in the world,' Berger said in press materials for the movie last year. 'I was super curious to peek behind those doors and find out all those details.' While Conclave was shot in Italy, Berger and his department heads didn't have access to the Vatican or any of the real locations depicted in the movie. As a result, creative license and embellishment were employed. Production designer Suzie Davies, an Oscar nominee for the project, had to recreate many of the Vatican's locations, including the Sistine Chapel and the residences where cardinals reside during the conclave. Philippe Antonello/Focus Features 'Very early on, we wanted to play the juxtaposition of the ornate, gorgeous, traditional historic architecture of Rome, and then this other side,' Davies told Gold Derby in an interview. 'We just wanted to play with the fact that these cardinals were going to be locked away. The script is also brilliantly descriptive, so we decided to take a bit of license with locking the cardinals away in the conclave and creating that posh prison guest house, which is when we could utilize this more brutal architecture. So there is no ornament, there are no flourishes, apart from the gorgeous marble, of course, which the Romans would have used. The idea was then to incorporate the other senses into the design. So, you could almost smell the lack of smell in those rooms. You could hear some of the fluorescent lights above, and the fact that there was no natural light in there. So we took license with the elements of the conclave that we know nothing about, and we ran with it to make it more cinematic, more of a thriller vibe.' For costume designer Lisy Christl, another Oscar nominee for the film, the cardinals' wardrobe color also required adjustment. 'The very first thing on our first journey to Rome was that I told Edward, 'Look, we have to change the color, and we have to change the fabric, meaning we have to make everything from scratch. So this was the very beginning,' Christl said. In real life, the cardinals' robes are more orange in hue. However, Christl thought the robes should appear bright red onscreen. 'Lisy's costumes set the standard of the design,' Davies said. 'We vibed off her choices of red. We put a red carpet on the floor in the Vatican, which, again, is a slight anomaly. They usually put beige color on the floor. We painted the Room of Tears [a small antechamber inside the Sistine Chapel] rich blood red to accentuate all these wonderful costumes, and they become the characters. Those characters have to inhabit spaces that have no character.' Philippe Antonello/Focus Features Speaking to Gold Derby, Berger said the goal was to represent the stifling nature of the conclave. 'You want to represent that you're being locked away from the world," he said. "We wanted to design sterile worlds where they're sequestered, that feels almost like a jail.' How the real-life conclave will turn out remains a mystery, but onscreen the twists and turns of Conclave were a hit with audiences. In the end, the most unlikely of candidates emerges victorious – an intersex cardinal who unifies the polarized factions of progressives and conservatives by delivering a message of hope and unity in the face of an increasingly chaotic world. 'We're all in a moment of crisis once in a while, we have our problems, we lose faith in ourselves, in the world," Berger told Gold Derby. 'And in the end, we come out with a resolve, with an understanding of ourselves and the world that hopefully brings a smile to our lips.' Conclave is now streaming on Prime Video. Originally published April 23, 2025 Best of GoldDerby Orson Welles movies: All 13 films as a director ranked worst to best Gary Cooper movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best George Clooney movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Adolescence writer to join Sam Mendes's Beatles films
Weeks after the four leading cast members of Sam Mendes's forthcoming Beatles films were announced, it has been reported that the Oscar-winning director has secured three writers to join the production. Award-winning British writers Jez Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow), Peter Straughan (Conclave) and Jack Thorne (Adolescence) will join the four biopics, which are expected to hit the big screen in April 2028. Thorne may be most recognised for his hit Netflix series Adolescence, which he co-created with Stephen Graham. When it debuted on Netflix earlier this year, the series sparked global conversations around the dangers of social media on young people and landed itself top on Netflix's 10 most-watched English series of all time. Thorne has also written the screenplay for films including Enola Holmes and The Swimmers. In the world of TV he's worked alongside director Shane Meadows in the 2010 drama miniseries This Is England and on the adaptation of Philip Pullman's hit children's novels His Dark Materials. The Olivier Award-winning playwright also wrote Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (2016) and, most recently, National Theatre's The Motive and the Cue (2023), which was directed by Mendes. Academy Award winner Straughan will also be joining as a screenwriter, having just won Best Adapted Screenplay for Edward Berger's Vatican thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini. The Oscar-award wining film follows the secret and mysterious ritual behind the election of a new Pope. For TV, Straughan adapted Hilary Mantel's bestselling novel Wolf Hall. The series starred Damian Lewis and was nominated for multiple awards, winning the BAFTA for Best Drama Series in 2016. He also wrote its sequel, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Butterworth is an award-winning playwright who wrote the 2017 play The Ferryman, for which he took home the Tony for Best Play. He later wrote The Hills of California, which just received seven Tony nominations, including for best play (both were directed by Mendes). For screen, Butterworth has written the scripts for James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari (2019), the James Bond film Spectre (2015), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). The Beatles series will include four separate films, each focusing on a different member of the group, and stars Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. Mendes, the director behind films such as Skyfall, has been developing this unique take on the Fab Four for years, claiming that it 'was too big for one film'. In creating four films, he has stated that he wishes to create the 'first binge-able theatrical experience'. This is the first time Apple, the Beatles's record company and the two living band members, McCartney and Starr, have granted the rights to their stories and music for a scripted film.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sam Mendes' four Beatles films to be written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne
The award-winning British writers Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne will pen Sam Mendes' four Beatles films, it has been reported. The four biopics, focusing on each member of the fab four, will be released in cinemas in April 2028 – with Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson playing John Lennon, Barry Keoghan playing Ringo Star, and Joseph Quinn playing George Harrison. Butterworth is the Olivier and Tony award-winning playwright behind The Ferryman and The Hills of California, both of which were directed by Mendes. He found acclaim with his play Jerusalem, which has been described as 'the greatest British play of the 21st century'. For screen, Butterworth has previously written the scripts for James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari, the James Bond film Spectre, the Whitey Bulger crime drama Black Mass, and the Indiana Jones franchise film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Straughan most recently won an Oscar for his screenplay for Edward Berger's papal thriller Conclave. He also won a Bafta for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which he wrote with his late wife Bridget O'Connor. For television, Straughan adapted Hilary Mantel's bestselling novel Wolf Hall, which won a Bafta for best drama series, and wrote its sequel, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Meanwhile, Thorne has garnered widespread acclaim for his recent hit series Adolescence, which he created with Stephen Graham. For stage, he has written the Olivier and Tony award-winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and most recently The Motive and the Cue, which was directed by Mendes. Thorne's other TV credits include the This Is England miniseries, which he co-wrote with director Shane Meadows; the adaptation of Philip Pullman's hit children's novels His Dark Materials; and Toxic Town, the story of three mothers involved in the Corby toxic waste case. He has also written the screenplay for films including the Enola Holmes films, The Swimmers and the forthcoming sequel to Tron: Legacy, titled Tron: Ares. It is unknown if each writer will be writing their own film or will be collaborating on all four films. Mendes conceived and will direct the films, which mark the first time Apple, the Beatles' record company, and the two living band members, McCartney and Starr, have granted the rights to their stories for the big screen. 'The Beatles changed my understanding of music,' Mendes recently told an audience at CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas. 'I've been trying to make a movie about them for years.' The Oscar-winning director said the story was 'too big for one film', and did not work as a TV series, adding: 'Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply.' According to Mendes, Tom Rothman, the boss of Sony, which is producing the movies, called them 'the first bingeable theatrical experience'. But there have already been some ripples of backlash to the casting of four non-scouse actors – two of them Irish – as the famous sons of Liverpool.
