NEW YORK — For Pedro Pascal, the only thing scarier than warding off zombie-like humans is playing the cello.
The “Last of Us” star had to master the instrument in just three months to play an orchestra virtuoso in his new movie “Behemoth!”, which premiered at the New York Film Festival Oct. 2.
When filmmaker Tony Gilroy asked whether he was up to the task, “I was like, ‘I really don’t know,’” Pascal said with a smile during a mid-morning press conference at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre. “I told him: ‘I understand the assignment and I’m gonna jump right the hell in, but I can’t tell you if I’m going to get an A.’“
Written and directed by Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”), “Behemoth!” follows a womanizing Hollywood session cellist named Alex (Pascal)
as he navigates loss, romance and his career. While he’s haunted by the specter of his ruthless father and caring for his ailing mother, Alex begins to take an interest in a young music prodigy.
While preparing for the project, “the cello was the main character of my life. I took it everywhere with me,” Pascal said. “It was hell and heaven; it was incredible to be in lessons again with another artist, and to stimulate the physical challenge of it and the meticulousness around it, having to fast-track things.
“You’re supposed to spend a year learning how to really hold the bow correctly and I had a week,” Pascal continued. “I never caught up to it, which was the ecstasy of it, I suppose. It was a joy, but it was the hardest thing I've ever done creatively.”
Olivia Wilde is a hilarious scene-stealer as Carol, Alex’s volcanic former flame who stalks him to Los Angeles. And “Sorry, Baby” breakthrough Eva Victor is the heart of the film as violinist Nadia, who has a brief but deeply impactful relationship with Alex.
In her first scene, “I had [to play] 20 seconds of ‘Happy Birthday,’ and I worked for two months, three hours a day,” Victor joked. On a personal level, the drama felt like kismet for her in part because “my grandfather was a violin and cello teacher, and he had passed away a couple months before. I read the script and it was like, ‘We’re going to have you in two months of violin lessons.’ I was like, ‘OK, thanks Grandpa, I guess we’re learning violin finally.’“
Victor was admittedly nervous to act opposite Pascal. “It was like: ‘You’re gonna make out with him,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, really?’ “ Victor recalled. “But it was lovely. He was so warm to me, and we talked about how important [Alex and Nadia] are to each other, and how tragic it is that they can’t find each other.”
“Behemoth!” features a thunderous score from an all-star collective of composers including James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri and Michael Giacchino.
During the festival Q&A, Pascal shared that some of his favorite film scores of all time include “The Color Purple” and “Empire of the Sun,” while Will Arnett ‒ who plays Alex’s podcaster brother, Andy ‒ has a soft spot for “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
“I’ve listened to it thousands of times, but I've never seen the movie,” Arnett admitted, earning laughs from the room of reporters.
“Behemoth!” will be released in theaters Dec. 4.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pedro Pascal reveals the ‘hell and heaven' of new role in ‘Behemoth!’
