The New York Film Festival unveiled the world premiere of Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! starring Pedro Pascal as the Centerpiece selection at its upcoming 64th edition.
Pascal plays Alex, a cellist picking up the pieces of a fractured life in the Searchlight Pictures drama. A former child prodigy living in the shadow of a storied musical family, Alex has left his position with an orchestra in Chicago, fleeing a soured relationship with a manic ex (Olivia Wilde), and returned to LA to resolve unfinished family business and record Hollywood film scores. The production employs a panoply of original movie compositions in a soundtrack featuring some of the industry’s leading musicians.
Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams and Margarita Levieva also star, with Hank Azaria and Will Arnett.
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“I have been orbiting NYFF for the great majority of my life,” said Gilroy. “I was baptized by Fitzcarraldo. I was tending bar across the street and a customer tipped me a single ticket. It was a bad seat to the most remarkable screening I’d ever attended. There were many memorable nights to follow. The Centerpiece invitation is a fantasy I’ve conjured more times than I care to admit. NYFF has always been the benchmark for me; the opportunity to premiere a film I cannot wait to show, in that hall, to that audience, feels every bit as thrilling as I’d imagined. I’m honored.”
The award-winning writer, director and producer made his feature directorial debut with Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton, going on to write and directed Duplicity and The Bourne Legacy. Gilroy wrote the first three Bourne films and co-wrote Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. Other writing credits include Beirut, State of Play, Armageddon, The Devil’s Advocate, Dolores Claiborne, Proof of Life, Extreme Measures and The Cutting Edge. He created Lucasfilm’s Emmy-nominated series Andor.
Behemoth! will screen Friday, Oct. 2 ahead of a Dec. 4 theatrical release. Trailer here.
“There is so much to savor in this immaculately crafted film, from its creative use of music to its note-perfect ensemble cast. Holding it all together is a tour de force by Pedro Pascal, one of the performances of the year from one of our true movie stars,” said NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim.
NYFF runs September 25 through October 12. James Gray’s Paper Tiger will open the fest. The world premiere of Ava DuVernay documentary 14th is the closing night film.
