Rarely in motion picture history have world events coincided so closely with an Academy Awards frontrunner during awards season.
As Catholics around the world pray for Pope Francis to recover from health ailments that have left the 88-year-old pontiff in critical condition, “Conclave,” a fictional thriller about the process of selecting a new pope, is among the top contenders for Best Picture at this Sunday’s Oscars ceremony.
“Conclave” stars Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Stanley Tucci and explores the power struggles and secrets among cardinals as they gather to choose the next leader of the Catholic Church.
The Edward Berger-helmed film just won the top prize at Sunday’s 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards and has been nominated for eight Academy Awards.
“It’s just unbelievable,” says Hollywood film critic and KTLA contributor Scott Mantz. “The fact that the pope’s health is failing is obviously terrible news. However, it’s something that a lot of people in the film industry, pundits like myself, have been saying: how crazy is it that life is actually imitating art?”
Pope Francis remained in critical condition on Monday but showed a slight improvement in laboratory tests and had resumed some work activities, the Vatican said. Still, discussions about the process of selecting his successor have amplified since he was hospitalized on Feb. 14 with bronchitis.
Could the timing of the pope’s hospitalization have an impact on Academy Awards voting? The short answer, Mantz says, is no – for a simple reason.
“Oscar voting closed last Tuesday at 5 p.m., so it’s not going to have an impact at all,” Mantz says. “Conclave was always a front-runner and a possibility to win because it’s the kind of safe movie that Oscar voters really go for, especially with the hair, makeup, and costume design. It’s probably going to win Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s just wild to have real-life news intersecting with Oscar talk.”
In 2009, as the United States was still mired in the Iraq War, “The Hurt Locker,” about an Army bomb disposal team, took home the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
