Behemoth! Premieres at NYFF With Pedro Pascal, Tony Gilroy

Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! world-premiered as a New York Film Festival centerpiece Friday, drawing early notices for Pedro Pascals turn as a touring classical cellist and for a score assembled by nine film composers, Deadline and Variety reported Oct. 2.

Searchlight Pictures will release the drama Dec. 4. Gilroy wrote and directed — his first feature since 2012’s The Bourne Legacy after creating and showrunning Disney+s Andor. Pascal plays Alex Serian, a virtuoso who drifts between symphony gigs and Hollywood scoring stages while family history and unfinished relationships catch up with him in Los Angeles. The ensemble includes Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, JoBeth Williams, Hank Azaria, Will Arnett, Margarita Levieva, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, and Matthew Lillard, Deadline lists.

Both critics highlight the film’s rare focus on session musicians who record movie scores. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman praises the authenticity of the studio lingo — a mix of Euro classical cues and Hollywood “new ink” jargon — and notes Gilroy had Pascal learn cello so the bowing and vibrato read as real rather than mimed. Deadlines Pete Hammond calls the picture a love letter to scoring stages and credits “The Behemoth! Collective” James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Michael Giacchino, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, and Brandon Roberts with “hands down the years best” score, citing 303 AFM musicians on the Los Angeles sessions and an original song for Swinton’s prodigy character, “Your God Is Sleeping.”

Reviews diverge on structure and emotional payoffs. Hammond finds Pascal’s low-key performance convincing and the non-linear cuts musical, framing the film as a character study that doubles as a tribute to the people who make film music.

Gleiberman labels it an “elevated bauble,” admiring the meta device that lets diegetic score work double as the film’s own underscore while arguing the midlife-crisis plot never reaches Michael Clayton-level elevation. The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney, writing the same day, likewise praised the scoring-stage sequences while calling the drama “wan” and stalled by a passive lead — a split that frames Saturday’s festival chatter around craft more than consensus.

Runtime is 2 hours 7 minutes. Producers are Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg, and editor John Gilroy; Damián García shot the picture. For readers tracking fall festival premieres on Hollywood, verified as of Oct. 2 dual Deadline and Variety coverage: Behemoth! premiered at NYFF; Searchlight dates it Dec. 4; Pascal stars as cellist Alex Serian under Gilroy; nine composers power the score; critical reaction is mixed-to-positive on music and performance, more reserved on narrative focus — without inventing box-office forecasts or awards shortlists beyond those notices.