Pedro Pascal wraps up another great year with two films that showcase his acting chops — a tentpole blockbuster and a deeply personal passion project. Before returning to the MCU as Reed Richards in Avengers: Doomsday, audiences will see him in his first collaborative effort with Andor creator Tony Gilroy. Having recently showcased his impressive dramatic range in films like Freaky Tales, Eddington, and Materialists, Pascal delivers another notable performance in a serious character drama.
Critics are already praising Pascal’s nuanced and restrained performance in Behemoth!, a musical drama about a former child prodigy cellist facing a midlife crisis. The project marks Gilroy’s fourth feature film and his first directorial effort since 2012’s The Bourne Legacy. Evoking the sharp character study of his directorial debut, Michael Clayton, Behemoth! is swiftly emerging as another Oscar contender for the director, following its high-profile world premiere at the New York Film Festival.
Behemoth!’s awards prospects already look promising, debuting with an impressive 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Deadline hails Gilroy’s skillful writing and direction, calling the film a “gorgeous and glorious tribute to those who make the music that help make movies like this one so much richer.” The outlet also noted the nine composers who helped Gilroy craft the film’s all-important score.
“Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts and Alan Silvestri — who together make up The Behemoth! Collective, and who serve up a musical score that, to my ears, is hands down the year’s best.”
That’s quite the lineup of musical maestros, but what’s equally impressive is Pascal’s commitment to the role. “My all-time pet peeve in classical-music films is that characters who are supposed to be playing the violin or cello almost never look real,” Variety wrote. “Tony Gilroy has solved this problem in the most committed possible way: He had Pedro Pascal learn to play the cello. That’s really Pascal doing it, which is why everything about his motions looks real, from the vibrato to the bowing to the way he moves his head.”
Pascal said he crammed a year’s worth of cello training into a single week, calling it “the hardest thing that I’ve ever done creatively for a part.” He added, “The cello was the main character of my life for several weeks leading up to shooting. I took it with me everywhere I went.”
That intense investment paid off in spades. Critics have showered his performance with praise, with IndieWire calling his turn “real and recessive,” Slant Magazine describing it as “intense yet tender,” and The Daily Beast hailing it as his “career-best” performance. The Guardian offered a less favorable assessment, calling Pascal a “frustratingly insubstantial anchor to the film” and arguing that his character is a passive participant in the narrative rather than its driving force.
With the critical consensus overwhelmingly positive despite the skepticism, general audiences will have to wait a little longer to settle the score themselves. In any case, Pascal ends the year on a high note, with Behemoth! slated to hit theaters on Dec. 4, two weeks before Avengers: Doomsday.
Release Date
December 4, 2026
Runtime
124 Minutes
Director
Tony Gilroy
Writers
Tony Gilroy
Producers
Sanne Wohlenberg, John Gilroy, Tony Gilroy