All Quiet on the Western Front

In 1930, the Nazi Party chief in Thuringia and state Minister of Education and the Interior, Wilhelm Frick, issued orders to remove 70 Expressionist paintings from the Schloss Weimar museum, fire the director of another museum for displaying modern art in its exhibitions, and ban all pacifist or antiwar books and films, including Erich Maria Remarque’s legendary World War I novel “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Emerson told BBC News that he and Edward Berger - the acclaimed German-Austrian film-maker whose 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was nominated for nine Academy Awards - aspired to make something that would replicate the 70s thrillers they grew up on.

On a conference call with his leading man, Ralph Fiennes, in between awards-season events such as the AFI Awards luncheon and a feting at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, the director is tracing the origins of “Conclave,” the follow-up to his 2022 “All Quiet on the Western Front” adaptation, which won four Oscars.

He developed “Conclave,” which was adapted by Peter Straughan, around the same time as “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

For him, it’s unfortunately reminiscent of how his last movie, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” fared with Oscar voters.