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LONDON (AP) 鈥� 鈥淐onclave鈥� author Robert Harris isn鈥檛 planning to stay up and watch the

The British writer will be in a different time zone. Plus, Harris would rather wait to see how the movie, which is including best picture, does Sunday night.

鈥淭hese things are a bit of a strain anyway, and I don鈥檛 want to sit up all night and hear them say and the winner is... 鈥楢nora鈥� at four in the morning,鈥� he said, laughing. 鈥淚 hope that 鈥楥onclave鈥� wins and it鈥檚 certainly in with a chance. It鈥檚 not the favorite, but it鈥檚 probably started to creep up to become a second favorite. So who knows.鈥�

Sitting in his study 鈥� a converted church office at his home in southeast England 鈥� Harris writes in the morning and tinkers in the afternoon, surrounded by books. He's in the early stages of a new novel.

These days it鈥檚 his 2016 papal thriller that everyone wants to talk about.

鈥淚鈥檝e always written about politics and power. It greatly interests me what it does to people, the kind of people who seek it and so on,鈥� explains Harris. 鈥淭his is in many ways the ultimate election, for God鈥檚 representative on Earth, the spiritual leader of one and a third billion people. It doesn鈥檛 get much bigger than that, quite frankly.鈥�

Inspired by the conclave of 2005, which elected Pope Benedict XVI, the novel was adapted into a screenplay by Peter Straughan, and brought to life by director Edward Berger, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.

Harris talked The Associated Press about Fiennes' portrayal of inner turmoil on screen, visiting a fake Sistine Chapel set and that twist.

Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: How have you felt about all the love that the film has had during the awards season?

HARRIS: Obviously I鈥檓 absolutely delighted. I think that they did a brilliant job, in every department. The direction, the production, the acting, the whole thing and music. The screenplay is very, very fine. Very closely follows the book, which of course makes me pleased. But I think that鈥檚 a sign of Peter Straughan鈥檚 talent. It makes a bit of a change of the quiet life of the novelist.

AP: Does it mean that you get a boost as well, sales wise?

HARRIS: Yes, it has sold quite a lot actually since October and got a particular boost after the It has done well in America as well where it got into the top 20 on Amazon, which is surprising for a book that old.

AP: Do you think in general that people should read the book first before they see a film?

HARRIS: Yes, I think that that is the way to approach it. But I鈥檓 quite happy if lots of people are doing it the other way around. I鈥檝e always had a particular fondness for this novel and I鈥檇 like people to read it.

There鈥檚 a lot more about the cardinal鈥檚 crisis of faith, for instance, and the details of other members of the College of Cardinals and the story of past conclaves. So I think if you enjoyed the film, then this is like further reading and will fill in, maybe, some questions people have.

AP: You talk about his crisis of faith. When you鈥檙e reading the book, you know the inner turmoil the lead character is going through. (Lomeli in the novel, Lawrence in the movie.) What was it like for you seeing Ralph portray that just with his face?

HARRIS: That鈥檚 why he鈥檚 so brilliant. The great difference between a novel and the film is what we would call, technically, interior monologue, that you have the character鈥檚 thoughts. A lot of films actually fail, from books, because they can鈥檛 convey that. But when you鈥檝e got an actor of Ralph鈥檚 quality, then his face does register every twist and turn. You can feel his pain and his anguish and his humor and his humility and intelligence. It all flits across his face. He鈥檚 on screen pretty well, nonstop for two hours. It鈥檚 an extraordinary feat.

AP: Did you visit? Did you see this happening in real life?

HARRIS: I went to once to Rome to see them when they were in the studios there, Cinecitta. They鈥檇 got a set of the Sistine Chapel. And it was staggering, actually, to walk in and then suddenly see this and with all the rows of cardinals, it was just like you鈥檇 stepped into the real thing. It was astonishing.

AP: What was your relationship with the production? Did you have any say at all?

HARRIS: I was certainly very much involved early on. I met (Straughan). Ralph Fiennes and Edward Berger came down here to lunch to tell me they wanted to change the nationality of the central character, which I thought, well, if that鈥檚 the price of having Ralph Fiennes play him, then I鈥檓 willing to pay it, quite frankly. I kept in touch in particular with the screenwriter. We got on very well and we had a couple of very nice long lunches.

AP: You鈥檙e not going to the Oscars?

HARRIS: Not invited (laughs.) But I don鈥檛 mind that, I can鈥檛 say that I would have particularly wanted to go.

AP: More people know the ending now. Has the response to the twist changed at all?

HARRIS: It鈥檚 always divided opinion. I didn鈥檛 just sort of tag it on at the end, the whole book leads up to it and it鈥檚 embedded in the themes of the story. I knew when I came up with it that it was a risk. I wanted to really do something startling and ask a big question of the church.

I should think the reaction to the twist in the film is roughly the same as the reaction to the twist in the book. Some people say, I really love this book until I got to the final 20 pages and I threw it across the room. But a lot of other people really like it. I mean, they gasp, they鈥檙e startled. It makes them talk. It challenges. And that鈥檚 what I want to do.

I write with some sympathy for the Catholic Church, but I want to question some of its assumptions.

AP: Many people鈥檚 knowledge of what happens in a conclave is now down to your storytelling.

HARRIS: I tried to be accurate. I鈥檓 a sort of slave to facts really. All the processes of a conclave are laid out like canon law. What happens every day and what the rules are, how many votes have to be achieved and how they鈥檙e counted and then burned and so on. I read a lot of accounts of past conclaves. It鈥檚 all supposed to be secret. But of course, people gossip and things leak out. So one knows roughly how the politics of it work, and I hope it is a fairly accurate portrayal.

AP: Have you been following the this week?

HARRIS: Yes, I have. I feel very sorry to hear it. I鈥檝e been refusing all requests to talk about it and a future conclave because I think that鈥檚 in extreme bad taste. I don鈥檛 want to get any publicity or to be seen to be trying to get anything out of it. The death of anyone is a tragedy and I really hope he鈥檚 got some more years yet.

Hilary Fox, The Associated Press