That’s thanks, in part, to the supporting cast that surrounds Pascal’s Alex, including his fellow musician father (played by Hank Azaria) and brother
That’s thanks, in part, to the supporting cast that surrounds Pascal’s Alex, including his fellow musician father (played by Hank Azaria) and brother (Will Arnett, who replaced David Harbour mid-production). Sorry, Baby’s Eva Victor plays Nadia, a cellist whom Alex romances while on a job in Dallas; while Olivia Wilde is Carol, Alex’s leopard-print-wearing ex with an axe to grind. “When Olivia walked in, we were like, ‘Why didn’t we start with Olivia before Pedro? Holy shit. She’s just amazing,’” says Gilroy. “She’s not an actor anymore. She’s a filmmaker.”
But make no mistake—this is Pascal’s movie; he appears in every scene, portraying 25 years of our hero’s journey, a first for the actor. “Fantastic Four, it’s in the title, there are four of us. Bella [Ramsey] and I were partners on The Last of Us. [On The Mandalorian] Baby Grogu steals the show, and there are three to five of us under the suit of the character Din Djarin,” Pascal recounts. “This was stepping into the thing that I always wanted—a character where your own experience is the only source that you have.” Says Gilroy, “This is closer to him than anybody’s ever seen.”
The whole endeavor, stripped of the movie mechanics Pascal has become comfortable with in recent years, made the actor feel vulnerable. “Once I had the cello under control, I completely panicked about how I would play the character,” he remembers. “How much of myself do I just bring to this? And do I even know how to do that? Do I have to be on a different planet? Do I have to have special powers? Do there have to be infected monsters? This is just so naked. Am I out of practice?”
