Tony Gilroy and Pedro Pascal have hit the BFI London Film Festival, and the director believes he wouldn’t be here without the success of Andor.
Gilroy, of the Bourne franchise and Rogue One fame, was the creator, showrunner and executive producer on the Star Wars prequel’s spinoff series from 2022 to 2025 at Disney+.
His latest feature film — the American’s first in 14 years — stars Pascal as Alex Serian, a gifted cellist who returns to Los Angeles after 20 years away to care for his ill mother. He soon finds himself investigating the aftermath of his relationship with a violinist, played by Eva Victor, whom he dated 16 years prior. Olivia Wilde, Will Arnett, Hank Azaria and Alexa Swinton all co-star.
“Look, I want to gamble,” Gilroy said to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet outside London’s Royal Festival Hall Tuesday night. “I want to keep pushing. I never want to do the same old thing. And we certainly didn’t do the same old thing with Andor. And I was like, when you’re winning, you press your bets. And so I want to do something out there. And I had this, and I knew it might work. I’m going to keep gambling as long as they let me play. I’m going to gamble.”
The success of the Emmy-winning Andor, widely considered the most creatively substantive of the recent projects churned out by LucasFilm, actually helped Gilroy make Behemoth! He said an adult drama that might have otherwise been a hard sell. “I’ve been at Disney now for 10 years on three very eccentric projects, and we’ve been gambling together. It’s kind of odd. It’s not the common perception, and your mileage may vary, but for me, they stretched a little bit to make this movie,” he added about the Searchlight feature. “It’s a little bit of a stretch that they made to make this, and I’m sure it has a lot to do with Andor.”
Superstar Pascal did minimal press on Tuesday’s carpet but was caught spotting a “Protect the Dolls” t-shirt, telling the wearer: “Protect the dolls, always and forever.” He was supported by his sister Lux, who made a surprise appearance for photos with Pascal.
Ahead of the screening, he revealed the extensive prep that went into becoming a virtuoso cellist, which included learning how to play the cello. “I would take it everywhere with me, on Tony’s recommendation,” said Pascal. “Every errand, to the gym, it just sort of lived with me. It was like putting myself into a relationship, and there was something kind of comforting about that.”
That method was the entryway into “all of the difficulty of technically learning how to play the cello convincingly,” explained the actor. “Because I knew that for Tony’s movie to work, that needed to be achieved. A full stop, you know? And to go into that question mark was terrifying, but it was also incredibly, incredibly thrilling.”
Another Star Wars alum, Oscar Isaac, was set to take on the lead role of Gilroy’s film, but he had to pull out. The filmmaker explained to THR that he went into the meeting with Pascal “with the full intention of blowing up the movie.” But 10 minutes in, after Pascal went to the bathroom, Gilroy knew right away. “It wasn’t really a meeting. It was kind of like a prenup. We just agreed all the things that we would have to do to make it work because he would have to pick up a cello the next day,” he said. “It wasn’t a long-term affair. It was a Hinge date.”
After a good few weeks on the festival circuit — Behemoth! premiered at the New York Film Festival just earlier this month — Gilroy is pleased to be in and amongst the pack. “The movies this year are fantastic. […] I remember when we started, one of the other filmmakers said to me, ‘We’re really lucky. This is really good. You want to be in a good year.’ It seems like it’s competitive or whatever, [it] doesn’t really matter,” Gilroy said. “You want to be in it. This is a very interesting year for movies.” He spotlighted Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes doc You Can See Everything as a particular favorite.
The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 7-18, and opened with the European premiere of Andrew Scott’s tearjerker Elsinore. Some of the glitziest galas so far include Ink, Wild Horse Nine, Artificial, Paper Tiger, Possible Love, Bunker and La Bola Negra. Check out THR‘s Screen Talks coverage from this year’s London Film Festival and chats with Andrew Scott, John Malkovich, Javier Bardem, Naomi Ackie, Ava DuVernay, Cynthia Erivo, Sofia Coppola and Danny Boyle.