Oscar Isaac Leaves Behemoth! Before Filming, Gilroy Blames a Crowded Calendar

Oscar Isaac has exited Behemoth! before production began, and director Tony Gilroy says the reason was a packed awards calendar. Speaking to Variety on 30 October 2026, Gilroy called it "a traffic jam between 'Frankenstein' and awards."

Pedro Pascal now plays the lead, Alex Serian, a cellist who returns to Los Angeles after 20 years on the road. Gilroy, who also wrote the film, met Pascal for a lunch that lasted three hours. He described it as "more of a prenup than a meeting." Producer Sanne Wohlenberg came along. The next day, Pascal started learning the cello.

Gilroy has been thinking about this project for a long time. He said the idea arrived on the scoring stage for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while he watched Michael Giacchino's composing sessions. Before he began work on the Disney+ series Andor, he spent six months interviewing working musicians. Behemoth! is his first feature as a director since The Bourne Legacy in 2012, and his first project since Andor.

The film is built around music. It needed 303 union musicians on stage. Nine composers wrote the score: Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts and Alan Silvestri. They are billed together as "The Behemoth! Collective," and each received the same fee, alphabetical credits and equal billing. No individual names appear on the poster, and publishing is shared among all nine.

Gilroy has said the film is about family, and about "new varieties of loneliness" in a fragmented world. Variety describes it as his ode to movie composers. The cast also includes Olivia Wilde, Will Arnett, Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton and Hank Azaria. The producers listed in the film's press materials are Tony Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg and John Gilroy.

Pascal has been discussing the role in public too. In a Variety podcast interview published on 23 October 2026, he talked about Behemoth!, learning the cello and his work on Avengers: Doomsday. Variety had already named his Behemoth! performance to its 2026 Most Anticipated Film Performances list.

For a film with a 303-musician stage and a nine-person composing team, the casting change is a reminder of how much depends on timing. A busy year for one actor can reshape a production schedule, and a three-hour lunch can turn into a plan for months of cello practice. Gilroy's account is the only public explanation for Isaac's exit so far.