Behemoth! to Close Newport Beach Film Festival

Behemoth!, the new film written and directed by Tony Gilroy and starring Pedro Pascal as a cellist, will close the 27th Newport Beach Film Festival on 22 October, Variety reported on 1 October.

The festival runs from 15 to 22 October. The closing slot ends the programme. It is the last screening before the lights go up on this year's edition in the theatre.

In festival language, an opening film launches the event and a closing film ends it. Both slots get extra attention because they often play with guests present.

Gilroy is set to attend in person. That matters for a general audience because the closing night is organised around the film-makers in the room, not only the film on screen.

He will not appear alone. Jade Healy, the production designer on Behemoth!, the person who leads the look of sets, locations and visual detail, will join him. The two will take part in a conversation before the screening starts.

Pascal plays Alex Serian, a gifted cellist. The character has spent 20 years performing on the road. The story brings him home to Los Angeles. That is the set-up, plain and simple. A musician. A long absence. A return.

Music is doing heavy lifting here. The production features nine composers. For readers new to that credit, a composer writes original music for a film. Nine is an unusually large group for one title. The festival has not yet detailed how that work is divided across the story.

The wider calendar is short. The Newport Beach screening on 22 October comes first. A premiere is then set for 4 December. That gap gives festival audiences an early view, more than a month ahead. A festival screening is separate from a general release, when a film opens to the wider public.

The festival is led by Gregg Schwenk, its chief executive and executive director. On its official site, the event describes itself as one of the largest luxury lifestyle film festivals in the United States, an edition that has listed support from Cadillac, Citizens Private Bank and the City of Newport Beach among its backers, according to the Newport Beach Film Festival.

What makes this stand out for fans is simple. Pascal is widely known from screen roles. Here he picks up a different instrument, in character terms. And Gilroy, speaking alongside his designer, offers a look at how story and image were built together.

No verdict here on the film itself. That conversation starts after the credits roll.