Waited 14 years? Bourne director’s Pedro Pascal movie scores big on Rotten Tomatoes

If you thought Pedro Pascal was just coasting on his action-hero laurels, think again. The man’s gone from Marvel blockbusters to indie oddities seemingly overnight, and now he’s capping off another impressive year with not one but two wildly different films. The first is a proper studio juggernaut — his return as Reed Richards in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ — but before all that multiverse jazz, Pascal is taking the stage for something far more intimate: a character drama with a musical twist, masterminded by none other than Tony Gilroy (yes, the ‘Andor’ and ‘Michael Clayton’ guy). If your idea of a passion project doesn’t involve power suits or blasters, this one might just make you listen up.

Pascal, a cello, and a midlife crisis

That film is Behemoth!, and it’s earning him more than just polite applause on the festival circuit. He plays a former child prodigy — a cellist whose glory days are fading in the rear-view mirror — grappling with all the messy, grown-up feelings that come along with a stalled career and looming midlife crisis. Not exactly slick superhero fare, but let’s be honest, the Academy loves a tortured artist and Gilroy seems perfectly suited to that brief.

Behemoth! bowed at the New York Film Festival with an 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

If you’re having déjà vu, yes, Gilroy’s going all-in on moody drama again for his fourth feature. It’s his first proper film since ‘The Bourne Legacy’ in 2012, but this time he’s channelling more of the talky tension from his ‘Michael Clayton’ days. The result? Critics are already chatting up the film’s Oscar prospects, and it’s not just because of Pascal.

That musical muscle

One of the more left-field details: Gilroy didn’t just round out the cast with prestige faces, he wrangled an entire composer army for the score. Nine — count ’em — nine top-tier names, including Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard and Alan Silvestri, all working together as what’s now being called ‘The Behemoth! Collective’. Deadline called the result 'hands down the year’s best' musical work, and honestly, when you assemble everyone short of John Williams, you’d expect something juicy.

Here's how Deadline summed up The Behemoth! Collective: "Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts and Alan Silvestri — who together make up The Behemoth! Collective, and who serve up a musical score that, to my ears, is hands down the year's best."

But forget background noise: for once, the on-screen cello playing isn’t a bunch of hand-faking and camera trickery. Pascal actually learned the instrument for real — reportedly cramming a year’s worth of cello training into just one manic week before cameras rolled. He even dragged the cello along with him for weeks on end, living the role far beyond what you’d expect from your average ‘movie star learns a skill’ montage. He’s said himself it was 'the hardest thing that I've ever done creatively for a part', and apparently the effort shows: Variety pointed out how much more convincing he is than the average actor miming a stringed instrument. Given how many classical music films have been sunk by bad faking, that’s no minor bonus.

Critical watch and release date

Was all that sweat and bow-rosin worth it? The jury (critics, at least) is mostly in: IndieWire felt his performance was 'real and recessive', Slant Magazine called it 'intense yet tender', and The Daily Beast declared it his 'career-best'. Even so, not everyone’s buying in — The Guardian came away cold, arguing Pascal’s character just sort of drifts through the plot instead of driving it. Still, most seem to think it’s a notch in Pascal’s already formidable belt.

No point in clearing your schedule just yet, though — Behemoth! only hits UK cinemas on 4th December 2026, precisely two weeks before Pascal’s next super-powered outing in Avengers: Doomsday.

• Pedro Pascal – lead role, ex-prodigy cellist
• Tony Gilroy – director (fourth feature, first since 2012)
• The Behemoth! Collective – nine composer team behind the score