Pedro Pascalhas carried galaxies and post-apocalyptic wastelands on his back. In Behemoth!, he’s carrying a cello.
In the new trailer for Tony Gilroy’s long-awaited drama, Pascal stars as Alex, a world-renowned cellist who returns to Los Angeles after
two decades on the road. Alex soon finds himself pulled into the invisible machinery of Hollywood film scoring, where every new composition threatens to reopen the wounds that drove him away in the first place.
In the teaser, a lone cello gives way to swelling orchestration as Pascal moves between cavernous stages, recording booths, and the familiar haze of Los Angeles. The film’s cast also includes Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, and Will Arnett.
Pascal joined Behemoth! after Oscar Isaac departed from the role last August, launching Pascal down a path of intense musical training. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Pascal described it as “literally the hardest, hardest, hardest thing I’ve ever had to learn to do,” reportedly spending hours after filming each day becoming comfortable with the instrument his character has known all his life. He joked, “Being in a gladiator arena or hanging from a harness—that stuff pales in comparison to learning how to play the cello and making it look convincing as you’re doing Tchaikovsky.”
The trailer’s closeups, featuring trembling fingers pressing against strings, the measured pull of a bow, and the physical strain etched across his face, put Pascal’s evident dedication on display.
Gilroy enlisted a talented lineup of composers to write the score for Behemoth!, including Michael Giacchino, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts, and Lukas Frank. Gilroy said he also spent a year interviewing studio musicians after working with composers Nicholas Britell on Andor and Michael Giacchino on Rogue One.
Inspired by the orchestral landscape surrounding him during both projects, he said, “You might have 30, 60, 90 players in a room…The moment they enter the music and start to play, all that individuality…disappears. The whole job is to become a single, collective, communal, blended voice. It’s a really fascinating transformation…. I can’t believe no one’s made a movie about this before.”
Behemoth! is set to hit theaters on Dec. 4.
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