Pedro Pascal Started Learning the Cello Before Behemoth! Was Certain
Pedro Pascal began cello lessons before he signed on to star in Behemoth!, and before he knew the project would go ahead. He said so on the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, in an interview published by Variety on 23 October 2026. His teachers were the cellists Timothy Loo and Charlie Tyler.
The story starts with lunch. Pascal first met writer-director Tony Gilroy for a meal in late July 2025 to talk about the lead role. In that first conversation, Gilroy asked him a direct question: was he up for learning the cello? Decider reported that exchange when the film reached its festival debut.
Behemoth! is a Searchlight Pictures release. Pascal plays Alex Serian, a gifted cellist who comes back to Los Angeles after 20 years on the road. The film premiered as the centrepiece of the New York Film Festival on 2 October, and it opens in cinemas on 4 December.
Shooting ran across Los Angeles from the end of October, with a final shoot day in Vienna. Pascal has also said that once he felt he had the cello under control, he panicked about how he would play the character. He told Vanity Fair as much in an earlier first-look interview.
On the same podcast, he discussed the film, revealed a line from Avengers: Doomsday, and teased a role in Todd Haynes' De Noche.
Learning a difficult instrument takes time, and Pascal started before he knew the project would go ahead. That is the detail that stands out in the timeline. For most viewers, though, the next date to note is 4 December, when Behemoth! reaches cinemas.
