John Lithgow may be 79, but his acting career is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. This month alone, he’s starring in the films “Conclave” and “Spellbound,” the TV series “The Old Man” (for which he was just nominated for a Critics Choice TV Award), and the play “Giant” in London.
“A lot of it is just fear that nobody will ask me [to work] again! I am an actor after all, and we’re a rather insecure bunch,” he tells Gold Derby, by way of explanation of his packed schedule. “I say yes to great things. I often say yes to not so great things, but I always have a good time anyway. And no matter what it is, I take fantastic friendships from every single job. This is just a wonderful run of luck, just a spate of wonderful projects working with extraordinary people. So, you know, if you were interviewing me in downtimes, I would not be in quite such a good mood, and I wouldn’t have as much to brag about. But these are really great projects, and it’s so much fun to promote something you actually love.”
Among the projects he’s bragging about — and rightfully so — is “Conclave,” the critically acclaimed Edward Berger film about the backroom plotting and scheming as a group of cardinals embark on the secretive task of selecting the next pope. He was sent the script by the director, and he admits he wasn’t that interested until he started reading it. “I thought, wow, these are extraordinary scenes and characters, and it’s a story that just keeps pulling me forward,” he says. “And I realized, yes, it’s very deeply about the Catholic Church, but it’s about many, many other things. And of course, the character was fascinating to me. There’s mysteries there — but mystery draws me like a fly to honey.”
In the film, Lithgow plays Cardinal Tremblay, one of the top contenders for the papacy who will go to any lengths to achieve his goals. Without revealing too much, his blind ambition ultimately proves his downfall. “That’s intriguing stuff,” Lithgow teases.
“When [the cardinals] get that close to the top job, it’s inevitable that some of them feel a burning ambition to land that job, even though they profess to be completely holy,” he says. “These are fascinating questions, and they are the reasons that Edward was so interested in this piece.”
Lithgow credits “genius” casting director Nina Gold with assembling a powerhouse ensemble, headed up by Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, who leads the conclave, along with Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci. “No character is wasted in this storytelling,” he says — especially Rossellini, whose Sister Agnes has a scene-, if not movie-stealing moment. “Isabella is hypnotic in the film, absolutely,” he says. “You can’t take your eyes off her.”
SEE Isabella Rossellini on ‘Conclave’: ‘You can convey a lot of things with no words’
Lithgow was also fascinated by the quotidian approach that Berger took to depicting the cardinals’ lives: “What is it like to be in a conclave if you’re a cardinal?” he says. “Where do you eat? Well, you eat in a great big cafeteria just like a high school junior. How do you live? Well, you live in a very a very spare and spartan hotel room like a travel lodge. We’re looking a lot of ordinary human beings in an extraordinary situation.”
While ultimately the film’s message is one of entertainment, Lithgow recognizes the ending will also be meaningful for audiences in the current political climate.
“That happy ending is a great relief to the liberal side of the audience, the people who are on the side of kindness, charity, humility — all the virtues which the Catholic Church is supposed to represent,” he says. “If the American electorate in the last election had been made up of our cast and crew, the results would have been very different.”
