Pedro Pascal makes his Oscar application with a cello.
“Behemoth!,” Tony Gilroy’s first feature film as director since 2012’s “The Bourne Legacy,” had its world premiere Friday night at Alice Tully Hall as the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival. Pascal plays Alex Serian, a former child prodigy from a family of Los Angeles studio musicians who returns home after 20 years touring to record scores for Hollywood films.
Pascal offers a beautiful internalized performance which is among his best cinematographic works. Additionally, this is the first time a director has constructed a film on the merit of what happens to Pascal’s face when no one is speaking.
Pascal did not get his fame from cinema. He was almost 40 when his “Game of Thrones” character, Oberyn Martell, became one of the most beloved — and short-lived — characters in television history. Next came other series on “Narcos,” “The Mandalorian” and “The Last of Us.” During this rise, Pascal became an internet boyfriend (“Papa”, as many have nicknamed him). You can’t blame me for worrying about the audience focusing on his depth and talent in the midst of thirst.
Perhaps that’s why his stunning performance in the 2022 action comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” has been strangely overlooked. He played Javi, Nicolas Cage’s billionaire superfan (and possibly cartel kingpin), who took on one of the most gloriously unhinged actors of his generation. Pascal stole every image.
The short film “Strange Way of Life” by Pedro Almodóvar, “Materialists” by Céline Song and “Eddington” by Ari Aster gave Pascal latitude. Gilroy and “Behemoth!” » make it undeniable.
Pedro Pascal in “Behemoth!” »
Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Gilroy structures the film around flashbacks. Every time Pascal’s Alex sits down to play the opening cue of a different film score, the music returns him to the people and circumstances that drove him away. Pascal does not openly express these memories. We feel them in glances, pauses and slight changes in posture. Performance increases in these moments.
Pascal’s work is reminiscent of Jude Law in “Cold Mountain,” which remains my favorite example of a reserved performance surviving an Oscar season that typically rewards over-the-top performances. In this film, Inman, Law’s wounded soldier, barely speaks during his long journey home from the Civil War, but voters noticed him anyway. There is no war for Pascal to go through unless you count the one he has in mind – concerning his father (Hank Azaria) or his brother (Will Arnett).
And then there’s Olivia Wilde. Somehow his knockout year directing and starring in “The Invite,” and reminding us all of his mastery and delicious appeal in “I Want Your Sex,” is getting better. She devours every frame of “Behemoth!” » like the ex Pascal can’t get rid of. She plays a little Cameron Diaz in “Vanilla Sky,” harboring an obsession with a creepy fuse. Notes: Diaz received a Golden Globe and a SAG nomination for this performance, but the Academy passed. It doesn’t deserve the same fate.
However, the real star of “Behemoth!” it’s the music itself.
Gilroy recruited nine composers, each composing a different fictional film within the film. The result is a soundtrack that crosses eras and genres in the same way that Alex’s memory does. The team includes Michael Abels (“Get Out”) as well as pianist and composer Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino (“Up”), James Newton Howard (“Michael Clayton”), Henry Jackman (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), Nami Melumad (“Pixar’s Dream Productions”), Brandon Roberts (“Andor”) and Alan Silvestri (“Forrest Gump”).
There’s a bit of irony for anyone following the score race. Giacchino already owns the statuette, winning for “Up” in 2010. James Newton Howard, who composed the music for Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” is one of the Academy’s great bridesmaids, with multiple nominations but no wins. Silvestri, whose names and credits include “Forrest Gump” and “Back to the Future,” has never won either.
The title refers to the giant fake film that the story builds towards. Gilroy created a tribute to the Los Angeles scoring community that he believes is disappearing. Following the film academy’s rule change in 2024, up to three composers can receive individual statuettes for original music. However, nine still don’t fit, unless they register as a “group” and share the name (i.e. only one Oscar statuette). Ironically, a film about musicians could be excluded or disqualified from the category created for them, if the music industry chooses ego over artistic merit.
Of course, the film will not appeal to everyone. “Monster!” is very coded “Tár”. It focuses on a protagonist whose gift and damage come from the same place. Some will find the fake movie conceit too clever, and others may think the climax is too small.
Behind it all is a simple and painful idea about love and what we think we are entitled to. This is Gilroy’s brilliant screenplay at work.
“Monster!” premiered in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, and for Latinos supporting Pascal from Oberyn, it took a long time.
Look who came before him.
José Ferrer, a Puerto Rican, won for “Cyrano de Bergerac” and became the first Latino actor to win the Academy Award for best actor. Seventy-five years later, he is still the only one. Mexican Anthony Quinn, who won two Oscars, received major nominations for “Wild Is the Wind” and “Zorba the Greek,” but never won the top prize. Next comes Edward James Olmos for “Stand and Deliver”, Demián Bichir for “A Better Life”, Colman Domingo for “Rustin” and “Sing Sing” and more recently Wagner Moura, who last season became the first Brazilian ever nominated in the category, for “The Secret Agent”.
And Pascal may not be the only Latino celebrating the 99th Academy Awards.
John Leguizamo, who received the Career Achievement Award at the Critics Choice Celebracion on the same day as the “Behemoth” premiere, has been working for four decades. As Eumaeus, the swineherd who remains faithful, he is the heart of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” He’s never been nominated for an Oscar, but that should change this year as well.
We need to sit tight and hold the message for Pedro.
“Monster!” opens December 4.
Gn entert
