Yes, Pedro Pascal is really playing the cello in his new movie Behemoth!, which premiered at New York Film Festival on Friday, October 2, and will open in select U.S. theaters on December 4. And yes, it was very difficult for him to learn.

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy (who is Oscar-nominated for his 2007 legal thriller film Michael Clayton, but is perhaps best known these days as the creator and showrunner of the critically-acclaimed Star Wars series, Andor) Behemoth! stars Pedro Pascal as Alex Serian, a renowned cellist who returns to his hometown, Los Angeles, to care for his ailing mother. Though he’s been playing orchestras all over the country, he takes a less-prestigious gig as a studio musician for Hollywood film scores. Through a series of non-linear flashbacks, the movie pieces together the story of Alex’s life.

On Friday morning, Gilroy and Pascal joined cast members Eva Victor and Will Arnett at a press conference, moderated by New Yorker critic Justin Chang, following the world premiere press and industry screening at New York Film Festival on Friday morning.

When asked by an audience member if learning the cello overlapped with any of Pascal’s other projects, the actor responded with a laugh, “It overlapped with learning my lines for the movie! Or remember that there was an actual character to play, with a story, other than just the cello.”

“The cello was the main character of my life for several weeks leading up to shooting,” Pascal explained. “I took it with me everywhere—Tony’s advice.”

As for the question as to whether anything surprised him during the learning process, Pascal replied, “Everything surprised me. It was hell. And heaven. It was incredible to be in lessons again, with another artist, for one. Then, the physical challenge of it, the meticulousness around it, and having to fast-track things—like, you’re supposed to spend a year learning how to hold the bow correctly. I had a week. And then we had to get into the bowing, and the vibrato.”

In the first conversation Pascal had with Gilroy, the director asked Pascal, frankly, if he was up to the challenge of learning the cello.

“We didn’t have much time, so it was a real come-to-Jesus meeting,” Gilroy said with a laugh. “It was like a three-hour pre-nup in a bar. Like, look we don’t have much time. This is what we need. This is what you need. If you can’t do it, then the only wrong answer is ‘yes,’ if you don’t really mean it.”

Pascal jumped in: “He was like, ‘Are you going to be able to it?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know!’”

“Right answer!” Gilroy said with a laugh.

Pascal said that his “I don’t know” attitude stayed with him for the entire filming process.

“That took us all the way to Vienna, when I had to cram in Mozart for the last scene,” Pascal said. “It was a joy, but it was the hardest thing that I’ve done, creatively, for a part.”

Behemoth! will be in limited theaters starting Friday, December 4, 2026.