Pedro Pascal calls learning cello for ‘Behemoth!’ the hardest challenge of his career

Actor Pedro Pascal has described learning to play the cello for Behemoth!, director Tony Gilroy’s upcoming film, as the hardest challenge of his career.

Actor Pedro Pascal has described learning to play the cello for Behemoth!, director Tony Gilroy’s upcoming film, as the hardest challenge of his career.

Pascal plays Alex Serian, a renowned cellist, in the film. He said mastering the instrument made the role particularly difficult, although portraying a reserved character who struggles to express himself also proved rewarding.

“I would say it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, because of the cello. But it was also the most nurturing and rewarding experience: playing someone so private, with a camera on him and knowing that everything he doesn’t share with the people orbiting him in the story is being shared with the audience,” Pascal told Variety.

He added: “It’s an interesting kind of present vulnerability that you had to show up for all the time. As recessive as he may feel, the audience is with him.”

Pascal said the camera made it difficult to conceal the character’s uncertainty, even when he did not fully understand what was happening around him.

“I can’t hide anything from you guys. Anything he doesn’t understand himself, even if he’s looking at something that’s a big reveal and we as an audience aren’t meant to know what he’s seeing, because he doesn’t know how to process what he’s seeing in that moment,” he said.

The actor had never played the cello before preparing for the film and said coordinating the instrument’s different techniques was particularly challenging.

“I’m bad at a lot of things. If you could hear it, you would think I was killing an animal,” he said.

“You can’t just let the bow slide up and down the strings. It has to be primed to press against the string and attempt to play the note. But to marry all of it, the bowing with the fingering and the different positions and the vibrato, is a lifelong endeavour that lifelong cellists are struggling with to this very day,” Pascal added.

He described the work as an intense process that required him to learn the instrument while also making his performance look convincing on screen.

“My teachers suffer at the hands of it even now. So, it was a highly, highly, highly intense lip-sync, shatteringly difficult and I felt back-footed the entire time,” he said.

Pascal began lessons before filming started, after meeting Gilroy in late July. Production began towards the end of October, he said.

“I had an intensive period before we started shooting. I had lunch with Tony in late July, and we started toward the end of October,” he said.

Even before the project was formally signed off, Pascal began training with musicians Timothy Loo and Charlie Tyler.

“Before anything was signed, as soon as I understood there was a green light, whether it would fall apart or not, I didn’t care. I went straight into my lessons with Timothy Loo and Charlie Tyler, these incredible musicians,” he said.

He continued practising during breaks in the filming schedule, including lunch breaks, shorter working days and weekends.

“Then when we started shooting, whatever window we had, whatever lunch, whatever short day, weekend, I was learning the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. It was crazy,” Pascal said.

Written and directed by Gilroy, Behemoth! is scheduled to open in cinemas on December 4, 2026.