Pedro Pascal’s Wild West Dream That Never Came True

Pedro Pascal’s rise to stardom has been anything but ordinary. For years, he hovered just out of the spotlight, but now, it seems, you can’t turn around without spotting him in a new role. The past couple of years have seen him transform into everything from a Marvel hero to a Roman commander, a debonair singleton, and even a wisecracking fox. It’s as if he’s determined to make up for lost time, and he’s doing a rather good job of it.

Among the more notable projects in his recent flurry of work is Eddington, a pandemic-era drama directed by Ari Aster. The film sets Joaquin Phoenix’s anti-mask lawman against Pascal’s pro-lockdown mayor, their small-town feud echoing the broader cultural divides of the time. The film’s reception was as split as its subject matter, but the press tour offered Pascal a chance to revisit an old regret with Phoenix.

Missed Opportunities and Western Longings

During a chat with Dazed, Pascal couldn’t resist bringing up a film that had slipped through his fingers.

“Do you know how badly I wanted to be in The Sisters Brothers? I wrote letters and stuff. I read the book!”

he confessed to Phoenix. The 2018 release, directed by Jacques Audiard, paired Phoenix with John C Reilly as the infamous Sisters siblings, a pair of hired guns on a perilous hunt for gold prospectors, played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed. The story, adapted from Patrick deWitt’s 2011 novel, offered a fresh take on the Western, blending dark humour with a touch of melancholy.

It’s anyone’s guess which part Pascal had in mind, but he’d have slotted in comfortably alongside the rest of the cast. Despite its critical acclaim and a healthy haul of César nominations, the film struggled to find an audience, pulling in just $14 million against a $38 million budget. Still, Audiard’s direction was recognised at both the César Awards and the Venice Film Festival, even if the box office didn’t quite follow suit.

What Might Have Been

Had things gone differently, Pascal would have shared the screen with Rutger Hauer, the Dutch legend whose final film this would become before his death in 2019. It’s a tantalising what-if, especially for fans of both actors. Yet, Pascal didn’t have to wait too long for his own turn in the saddle.

In 2023, he starred opposite Ethan Hawke in Pedro Almodóvar’s short, Strange Way of Life. The film, like The Sisters Brothers, centres on two gunslingers, though this time their connection is romantic rather than fraternal. It’s a different spin on the genre, but one that allowed Pascal to finally don the cowboy hat he’d so clearly coveted.

Defining the Western

All this talk of outlaws and dusty towns was prompted by Eddington itself, set against the arid backdrop of New Mexico. When asked by Dazed whether he considered the film a Western, Pascal seemed genuinely uncertain.

“This one seems like a political satire western, but only partly because we’re in a dusty, small town, that’s what makes it a western?”

he mused, leaving the question hanging in the air.

For Pascal, the allure of the Wild West remains strong, even if the perfect role sometimes slips just out of reach. His journey from hopeful letter-writer to leading man is a reminder that, in the world of film, the path to the frontier is rarely straightforward.