Pedro Pascal in a suit, holding a cello, having a midlife crisis. That is the pitch, and honestly, it is enough. Searchlight Pictures released the official trailer for Behemoth! on October 28, and the film opens in theaters December 4.
What it is about
The film is written and directed by Tony Gilroy, who wrote The Bourne Identity and created Andor, and he produced it with Sanne Wohlenberg and John Gilroy. Searchlight's synopsis: "A gifted cellist, Alex Serian (Pedro Pascal), returns home to Los Angeles after 20 years on the road. Music, which has been the constant, all-consuming river of his life, begins to carry Alex on an adventure that will change him forever."
It sounds less like an action movie and more like a grown-up story about what happens when the thing you built your life around stops fitting. Gilroy is a writer who likes characters under pressure, and moving that instinct out of spy thrillers and into a musician's homecoming is the part we are most curious about.
Inside the new trailer
The new trailer, which follows a first look in July, opens with Alex and a group of others being told to sign a nondisclosure agreement. When he asks what Behemoth! actually is, the answer is, "It's a code name. Security. Just sign the damn thing so we can get to work," as ABC7 reports. There are plenty of scenes of Pascal at the cello, and he said at the film's AFI Fest premiere that the instrument was the main topic of his first meeting with Gilroy: "He was like, it's going to be really hard. And you're gonna have to learn how to make it look real."
Who is in it
Pascal leads, with Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Will Arnett and Hank Azaria, plus Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams and Margarita Levieva, according to Searchlight. The score is credited to The Behemoth! Collective, which fits a movie about a man whose whole identity is the music. Eva Victor, who wrote, directed and starred in Sorry, Baby, is the name on that list we would watch for; IndieWire notes she appears as Alex's love interest.
That Behemoth! Collective is a story in itself. The Playlist reported, via IndieWire, that it is nine composers: Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts and Alan Silvestri. For a film about a musician, that is a serious bench.
Why we are watching
Pascal is at his best when he plays tired and tender rather than armored, and this role leans all the way into that. It is also a rare December release made for adults: between the family films and the franchise blockbusters, this is the one to see with a friend and pick apart over a drink afterward.
And midlife reinvention is a real story, not a punchline. Anyone who has looked up from a career, a marriage or a routine and wondered whether she picked the right life will recognize something in a man coming home after twenty years and finding the map no longer matches the place.
Watch the trailer on Searchlight's Behemoth! page, then put December 4 on the group chat calendar.
