Imagine you’re strolling down a darkly-lit, marble-walled corridor in the blandest, grayest hotel hallway you’ve ever seen. You open one of the doors, step through, and enter the most iconic and recognizable room in Europe: the Sistine Chapel.
This dream scenario actually did occur on the set of Edward Berger’s Vatican potboiler “Conclave,” which was filmed entirely at Rome’s famed Cinecittà Studios and in locations around the Italian capital.
Based on a novel by Robert Harris, Berger’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front” is a stunning achievement in design, costumes and photography. “But there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors used to create these worlds,” said Oscar nominated production designer Suzie Davies (“Saltburn,” “Mr.