wrote that this is the role I\u2019ve waited a long time for you to play<\/a>. Thank God Tony Gilroy is alive and well.<\/p>\n\n\tHe is a spy for the rebellion. Tony kind of blows my mind. He\u2019s so skilled at so many classical elements, classical music being a huge part of this movie and he\u2019s so innovative and progressive in the way he deals with narrative structure while painting completely whole human beings. In my research, and in my love of him now that I\u2019ve gotten to work with him, there\u2019s something I pay even more attention to as I revisit everything he\u2019s written. \u201cDolores Claiborne,\u201d in 1995, is a manifesto on misogyny. At the time that didn\u2019t feel new, but within the thriller genre, its intelligence around such a real issue left a mark on me. It\u2019s like school in a way. As personal and intimate as this story is, there\u2019s something really rebellious about it and a little anarchistic, in insisting that you pay such close attention to this life puzzle that anyone can have if they want to reflect on their own lives and hear the music of it and let the music guide you into revelations about yourself.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe film doesn\u2019t reveal what it\u2019s really about until maybe 65 or 70% in, and it subverts every expectation of what a drama about classical music could be. You do so much acting with your face. I cried at the end because of a face you make in a pivotal scene. Was it harder to go through this story without a lot of words to show what you\u2019re feeling?<\/p>\n
\n\tI loved it more than anything I\u2019ve gotten to do. I guess because there are fewer lines to learn. [laughs]<\/p>\n
\n\tThere was so much language in the cello playing that speaks for the character. He\u2019s very obviously someone who expresses himself through his music and fails at so many things in life because he doesn\u2019t know how to speak the language of human relationships. He knows how to navigate his own life and express himself through playing the cello. That was something I understood really deeply and had empathy for. I\u2019m somebody who talks a lot and uses a lot of words and loves language, but I related to this untethered, nomadic person whose skill beyond playing the cello is adaptability to survive. That was a deep connection for me.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe homework, beyond the insane technical challenge of looking like I played the cello convincingly, was understanding Tony and the story he was telling. It\u2019s funny, because we recently noticed, while taking the train together, that we\u2019re talking a lot more about Alex Serian than we ever did while shooting the movie.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat happened organically?<\/p>\n
\n\tCompletely organically. Tony puts so much faith in the people he hires, and I think that faith is a form of leadership that invites your most devoted work. He\u2019ll say it\u2019s pragmatic, which I totally understand, because as a leader you want your crew and your cast to give you their best. At the same time, it\u2019s this very warm and exciting invitation to be inside the story without having to talk about it too much. I was given all this permission to step into a day of shooting, into a scene, into pivotal or subtle moments of this very interesting arc the character is on, without talking to Tony about it first. The only time he\u2019d come in and make little adjustments, suggestions even, he would always start with, \u201cI don\u2019t want to fuck with this. But do you think maybe we can put a smile on this?\u201d And he didn\u2019t mean my face. He meant internally, energetically. It was a fascinating dance of trust.<\/p>\n
\n\tI would say it\u2019s the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done, because of the cello. But it was also the most nurturing and rewarding experience: playing someone so private, with a camera on him and knowing that everything he doesn\u2019t share with the people orbiting him in the story is being shared with the audience. It\u2019s an interesting kind of present vulnerability that you had to show up for all the time. As recessive as he may feel, the audience is with him. I can\u2019t hide anything from you guys. Anything he doesn\u2019t understand himself, even if he\u2019s looking at something that\u2019s a big reveal and we as an audience aren\u2019t meant to know what he\u2019s seeing, because he doesn\u2019t know how to process what he\u2019s seeing in that moment.<\/p>\n
\n\tOlivia Wilde slays in this movie. I thought she was going to murder you.<\/p>\n
\n\tShe was my favorite character on the page, and that we got Olivia was, as Tony would say, the movie gods smiling upon us. Coming in and slaying the hell out of the scene.<\/p>\n
\n\tHow much did you see of yourself in Alex? You\u2019re famous, you\u2019re surrounded by people constantly. Did you feel a connection to what it\u2019s like to be lonely?<\/p>\n
\n\tThis is what I find so fascinating, and it\u2019s why I\u2019m talking so much more about him now. I don\u2019t want to use the word \u201cdefending\u201d him, but I\u2019m sharing what I understand of him, because I don\u2019t believe he lacks connections or doesn\u2019t know how to connect. What he cannot meet in many of his relationships is a certain expectation of him that goes beyond the realm of a language he knows how to speak. Without it being calculating, he does choose to be in relationships that have their guardrails set in place. Love with a woman who is in a relationship. Nonattachments. Out of his own fear of bringing anyone into his inherited pain and his inherited dysfunction. He\u2019s not somebody to blame his parents. He just is who he is, and he\u2019s doing his best.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe second language he\u2019s very good at is intimacy. Not emotional intimacy, but he can express himself through, I guess, lovemaking. That\u2019s why there are so many relationships in the movie that I feel have very real connections. It just doesn\u2019t come into commitment. There are people who, let\u2019s say, put a demand on him: \u201cI need you to say something, because I\u2019m not willing to say it.\u201d He doesn\u2019t know how to say it, but it isn\u2019t necessarily fair to demand that he be the one to say it.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou had never picked up a cello. Why are you good at everything?<\/p>\n
\n\tI\u2019m bad at a lot of things. If you could hear it, you would think I was killing an animal.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou can\u2019t just let the bow slide up and down the strings. It has to be primed to press against the string and attempt to play the note. But to marry all of it, the bowing with the fingering and the different positions and the vibrato, is a lifelong endeavor that lifelong cellists are struggling with to this very day. My teachers suffer at the hands of it even now. So it was a highly, highly, highly intense lipsync, shatteringly difficult and I felt back-footed the entire time.<\/p>\n
\n\tI had an intensive period before we started shooting. I had lunch with Tony in late July, and we started toward the end of October. Before anything was signed, as soon as I understood there was a green light, whether it would fall apart or not, I didn\u2019t care. I went straight into my lessons with Timothy Loo and Charlie Tyler, these incredible musicians. Then when we started shooting, whatever window we had, whatever lunch, whatever short day, weekend, I was learning the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. It was crazy. The very last day of shooting was in Vienna, but we spent every day of the shoot all over Los Angeles, which had its own magic.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat a concept, to shoot a movie about L.A. in L.A \u2026<\/p>\n
\n\tSo many locations. We were in Pasadena. We were in Studio City. We were in Malibu. We were in the Arts District. We were downtown. Getting to take a break and feel integrated into the city, then go home at the end of the day, was a dream experience. Everyone felt it. The whole crew was local. Dami\u00e1n Garc\u00eda, our brilliant cinematographer, lives in Barcelona and our incredible producer Sanne Wohlenberg lives in London, but everyone else, all the department heads, were Los Angeles, if not Angelenos. Major legacy industry people who had worked on the most incredible things. We were all very in love.<\/p>\n
\n\tTony told me it would\u2019ve been a lie to make this movie about the business and not shoot it here.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen you talk about Olivia Wilde tearing into the movie the instant she steps on-screen, that\u2019s a perfect example of movie magic we haven\u2019t talked about enough. That scene takes place in Chicago, but we shot it in downtown Los Angeles. It was not cold, and it was not snowing. It is an operatic blizzard happening in this movie. That\u2019s down to our incredible camera department and production design. And Mary Zophres, the costume designer, picked out that emerald green dress for Olivia and worked with me on every detail. What Alex is wearing isn\u2019t necessarily something you notice, but it has everything to do with the gentle nature in which he tries to exist in the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe last scene we see of him, in the cathedral, that sweater. He seems so calm, so at peace. And when he\u2019s running through the house, the white shirt and the bow tie, he feels like a man on a mission. As close as we\u2019ll get to you playing James Bond.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe white shirt and bow tie don\u2019t hurt. It\u2019s all so intentional. Everything I wore was this collaborative, gorgeous conversation with Mary. I can\u2019t say enough about everybody who worked on the movie.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou spent about two decades taking small roles onstage and on television before \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d changed everything. You were 39. Someone out there is in those forming years, waiting for that moment. What do you wish someone had told you back then?<\/p>\n
\n\tI was thinking about a different version of this today, weirdly. One of the first things I got to do when the season was airing was go back to my roots and play Don John in \u201cMuch Ado About Nothing\u201d at Shakespeare in the Park, which Jack O\u2019Brien directed. I caught myself thinking about that very, very pivotal year of my life, one I\u2019d been waiting for ever since I left high school and how much I missed it. Then I was thinking about how much I missed shooting \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d in Alberta and sharing \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d with the world. And then: I miss \u201cBehemoth!\u201d I miss \u201cBehemoth!\u201d more than I miss anything I\u2019ve ever done. I miss the character. I miss being with everyone every day. I miss Tony. And I was thinking, you\u2019re going to look back, so be very present today, because it\u2019s only going to take a couple of years to miss this. Pay attention. Enjoy it.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat I would tell anyone is that if you\u2019re waking up every day and trying, and some days that means not doing anything at all, but you have intention behind your pursuit, you\u2019re in love with what you\u2019re pursuing and you\u2019re pursuing it in your own way, you are exactly where you\u2019re supposed to be. Have faith in that. I think it\u2019s a huge mistake if you feel like you need to mold yourself into something that doesn\u2019t feel true to yourself, or meet an expectation that even fractionally feels like some kind of internal betrayal.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou\u2019ve got to eat shit, and you\u2019ve got to take a lot of shit. That\u2019s part of it. It\u2019s a huge part of it for me, because it forms character, hopefully in the direction of knowing how to treat other people and protecting the value of generosity, because it comes around. There isn\u2019t any way I would be here were it not for the generosity of others who have been there for me. I owe it to all the people in my life. I wouldn\u2019t know where to begin. It\u2019s a population of people that I owe things to.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt makes me think of the finale of \u201cThe Office,\u201d when Andy says \u201cI wish there was a way to know you\u2019re in \u2018the good old days\u2019, before you\u2019ve actually left them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s exactly what I was thinking about today.<\/p>\n
\n\tI was in bed, and I saw the premiere of \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d on MTV and I just didn\u2019t blink. \u201cWhat is this?\u201d I remember the first time I saw Tracy Chapman. I remember the first time I saw Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor\u2019s \u201cNothing Compares 2 U\u201d and just being changed.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen I was a kid, I was so into Motown. I was so into classic rock. I had my whole period with Bob Dylan and the Doors and Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. God, Roberta Flack. I walked two miles to get the 1978 self-titled album once I\u2019d heard \u201cThe First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.\u201d But through the lens of my nephews, I see how much access the young generation has to express themselves through social media, which has its advantages and its dangers. Major dangers. But it\u2019s also a very important tool of expression, or at least, for older people like us, a way of bearing witness to what their experience is, what their needs are. I\u2019m really excited about young people seeing this movie, even though it\u2019s old farts making it, because there\u2019s something so relatable about evaluating your own life and realizing it has its own music, its own movie. If you follow that music, there are surprises.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tBehemoth!<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScreenshot courtesy YouTube\/Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n
\n\tYou\u2019re famously generous on red carpets and in interviews. When people ask what it\u2019s like to interview you, I say you\u2019re exactly the way you imagine him to be. The internet has turned you into a kind of \u201cshared boyfriend.\u201d Uly Morazan, who\u2019s a content creator and<\/a> makes videos about you, is a great example of that. Everyone feels they can connect with you. Does that version of Pedro make it harder to disappear into someone like Alex?<\/p>\n\n\tOh my god, I love Uly. It\u2019s not harder for me at all, because I think so dramaturgically about work. That\u2019s my training and the way my brain works. There are so many different types of actors. There are actors who can live in the perspective of their character so completely that I envy them sometimes. There are actors who are writers, even though they don\u2019t write and can save a character and elevate a character through their own contributions of language. There are actors who think producerially and see the whole picture and their place in it. The challenge would come from anyone who sees me in a particular way and hasn\u2019t seen me do something like this. But something like this is a thing I\u2019ve been dreaming about my whole life.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd in its own tiny way, I\u2019ve gotten to play very rich roles in tiny theaters all around the country through my theater career and my years as a member of Labyrinth Theater Company in New York. So the short answer is no. It\u2019s a lot harder to step into Marvel or a beloved video game. You have to be realistic about those expectations and also protect the personal authorship you\u2019re ultimately going to want to share with an audience that\u2019s either new to the project or beloved fans of it. That\u2019s a fascinating balance to understand and study, because you can\u2019t betray anything about yourself. It just won\u2019t be true. You have to accept that you\u2019re not going to meet everybody\u2019s expectations, but you do have to take expectation into account, because these are people who understand the material in a way that\u2019s very important for you to understand when you go into it.<\/p>\n
\n\tI was told you can tell me almost everything about \u201cAvengers\u201d and the Todd Haynes film. So tell me everything.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou want me to tell you everything about \u201cDoomsday\u201d and \u201cSecret Wars\u201d together? They are about the Avengers and major events that all of us are a part of.<\/p>\n
\n\tI asked David Harbour, who sat in that very spot, for one line his character says, completely out of context. Give me a line from \u201cAvengers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tI\u2019m trying not to pick the line that\u2019s in the trailer \u2026 \u201cIt\u2019s good to see you again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd Todd Haynes\u2019 \u201cDe Noche?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDe Noche\u201d has its own movie gods, one of them being Todd Haynes. It\u2019s a sister film for me, emotionally anyway, in terms of how special it is to me. For both of them, there were only these windows for them to be made and to be able to fly in through that window together is its own sort of magic. To me, it was a movie that had to be made, a Todd Haynes movie that had to be made, just like this is a Tony Gilroy movie that had to be made.<\/p>\n
\n\tKieran Culkin isn\u2019t in a film this year, and I\u2019m going to miss the banter you both shared during \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d and while he was on the circuit for \u201cSuccession.\u201d If you had a message for Mr. Culkin, what would it be?<\/p>\n
\n\tOh, Kieran \u2026 He\u2019s not going to listen to this, so I\u2019ll text it to him. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cCome here, Kieran. Let\u2019s cuddle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tPedro Pascal in \u201cBehemoth!\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n
\t\t10 QUESTIONS WITH PEDRO PASCAL\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat\u2019s your childhood nickname?<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPepelo.\u201d If I had grown up in Chile, I would be Papelo.<\/p>\n
\n\tSomething you loved as a kid that you can\u2019t believe you were into?<\/p>\n
\n\tI think I love everything I was into. But I fell for Cabbage Patch Kids, and now I\u2019m like, why?<\/p>\n
\n\tMy father-in-law fell for the Beanie Babies revolution. Thought they\u2019d be worth a gazillion dollars.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat was a craze, though. I moved on to Garbage Pail Kids, and I don\u2019t regret that at all.<\/p>\n
\n\tGo-to karaoke or shower song?<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cLa Bamba.\u201d But I don\u2019t do karaoke.<\/p>\n
\n\tNot even at a friend\u2019s house?<\/p>\n
\n\tI\u2019ve done \u201cLa Bamba\u201d for friends.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo I just need to get invited. Secret talent?<\/p>\n
\n\tI have few secrets and very, very few talents. I used to know how to juggle. Can\u2019t juggle anymore. Just tried. Big mistake. I\u2019m good at laundry.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou fold well?<\/p>\n
\n\tFold well.<\/p>\n
\n\tFavorite ice cream flavor?<\/p>\n
\n\tChocolate H\u00e4agen-Dazs. Without question.<\/p>\n
\n\tMine is cookies and cream H\u00e4agen-Dazs.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s my second, bro. If it\u2019s not chocolate, the closest second is cookies and cream H\u00e4agen-Dazs.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe one item you can\u2019t live without?<\/p>\n
\n\tSomething my mother made me.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat TV show or film in history do you wish you\u2019d been a cast member of?<\/p>\n
\n\tI wish I was in \u201cThe Lost Boys.\u201d Can I also say \u201cTwin Peaks?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDid you see \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d musical?<\/p>\n
\n\tNo, but I heard it\u2019s amazing. Michael Arden is a friend of mine. We worked together on \u201cKing Lear,\u201d and he\u2019s an incredible director.<\/p>\n
\n\tFictional character you most relate to or admire?<\/p>\n
\n\tDid you ever see \u201cMy Life as a Dog?\u201d Ingemar, in Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m\u2019s movie.<\/p>\n
\n\tI had chills for a second, because my answer to that is usually \u201cMy Life,\u201d with Michael Keaton and Nicole Kidman. Nobody talks about that movie. I think it\u2019s Keaton\u2019s finest hour. Favorite piece of advice, given or received?<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s corny as hell, and it\u2019s a verse from Shakespeare. But to thine own self be true.<\/p>\n
\n\tVariety\u2019s \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.<\/p>\n