Pedro Pascal has described learning to play the cello for his role in Behemoth! as the “most challenging” thing he has faced in his career. The 51-year-old actor stars as Alex Serian, a gifted, classically trained musician who returns home to Los Angeles and the world of film scoring after travelling the globe playing music.
Learning the cello for the role
Speaking on the red carpet for the UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, Pascal said mastering the instrument in a very short time was the toughest experience of his professional life. He joked he would rather “choose fighting the Mountain”, referencing the fearsome warrior in HBO’s Game Of Thrones, which he also starred in, “over learning how to play the cello convincingly”.
He also said he would prefer being thrown “off a cliff with Nicolas Cage”, a nod to a scene in 2022’s The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, than learn the cello.
Love for the instrument
Despite the difficulty, Pascal has grown fond of the instrument. “Although now I’m in love with the instrument, and in love with the sound,” he said. “It was always my favourite instrument sort of secretly and it’s really nice physical company.”
“The size of it and the kind of embrace that it is to have a cello is an incredible comfort, but boy sometimes it is not on your side when you want to make it sing.”
Cast and production
The Chilean-American actor stars alongside Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, and Will Arnett in the drama directed by Tony Gilroy, known for The Bourne Legacy and Michael Clayton. The role was originally set for Oscar Isaac, but he reportedly dropped out in August last year, with Pascal recast as the lead.
Gilroy praised Pascal’s performance, saying: “I don’t have a movie without him. The movie was about to fall apart when he came in, and he didn’t just resurrect the movie, he made it possible. He’s the exclamation point. He’s the thing that lets the movie have its effervescence and its pop.”
The filmmaker also spoke about the challenges of financing the film due to its Los Angeles setting. “It’s not the kind of picture that’s getting greenlit all the time every day. It’s a mid-level. It’s not a sequel. It’s not IP. It’s all the things that movie making used to be,” he said.
“We had to make the movie in Southern California. We can’t go someplace else. It’s a movie about Los Angeles as a character, and the music community of LA, and that’s a lot more expensive than making the movie someplace else. It was a stretch, but we did it economically and you know you’re not getting a lot of movies like this at this point. We’ll see how many more there are.”
Behemoth! is released in UK cinemas on December 4.
