Tony Gilroy says "Behemoth!" would not have been possible without "Andor"

The Star Wars heavyweight spoke alongside Pedro Pascal, who learned the cello for the role, at the first screening of the BFI London Film Festival: "It was like putting myself in a relationship."

Tony Gilroy and Pedro Pascal were at the BFI London Film Festival and the director believes that it wouldn't be here without Andor's success.

Gilroy, of the Bourne franchise and Rogue One fame, was the creator, showrunner and executive producer of the Star Wars prequel spin-off series from 2022 to 2025 on Disney Plus.

His latest feature — his first American film in eight years — stars Pascal as Alex Serian, a talented cellist who returns to Los Angeles after 20 years away to care for his ailing mother. He soon finds himself dealing with the consequences of his relationship with a violinist, played by Eva Victor, whom he dated 16 years earlier. Olivia Wilde, Will Arendt, Hank Azaria and Alexa Swinton all played roles in this film.

Banned in Iran, UK visa rejected: Mohsen Amiryousofi's film about banned films goes to London

"Look, I want to gamble," Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet outside London's Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday night. "I want to keep pushing. I never want to do the same thing. And we certainly didn't do the same thing with Andor. And I was like, when you're winning, you push your bets. So I'm going to do something. And I had this, and I knew it might work. I'm going to keep gambling as long as they let me play."

The success of the Emmy Award-winning Andor, widely considered the most creative recent project produced by LucasFilm, actually helped Gilroy make Behemoth! An adult drama that might otherwise be a tough sell, he said. Of the Searchlight feature, he added, "I've been at Disney for 10 years now on three really weird projects, and we're taking a gamble. It's kind of weird. It's not a common perception, and your mileage may vary, but for me, they took a little too long to make this movie." "It's a bit of a stretch that they went through to build this, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with Andor."

Superstar Pascal did minimal press on the carpet on Tuesday, but was spotted wearing a "Protect the Dolls" T-shirt that said to its wearer, "Protect the Dolls Always and Forever." She was supported by her sister Lux, who made a surprise appearance for the photos with Pascal.

Before the show, he revealed the extensive preparation that went into becoming a cellist, which included learning how to play the cello. "I take it with me everywhere on Tony's advice," Pascal said. "Every job, going to the gym, kind of lived with me. It was like putting myself in a relationship, and there was something comforting about that."

The actor explained that this method was his way into "all the technical difficulties of learning how to play the cello convincingly." "Because I knew that in order for Tony's movie to work, it had to come to that. You know an ending point, you know? And going to that question mark was terrifying, but it was also super, super exciting."

Another Star Wars stalwart, Oscar Isaac, was slated to play the lead role in Gilroy's film, but he had to pull out. The filmmaker explained to THR that he met Pascal "with the intention of blowing up the movie." But 10 minutes later, after Pascal went to the bathroom, Gilroy noticed immediately. "It wasn't really a meeting. It was kind of like a pre-wedding. We just agreed on everything we needed to do to get it done because he had to pick up a cello the next day," she said. "It wasn't a long-term relationship. It was a date."

After a good few weeks on the festival circuit - Behemoth! It premiered at the New York Film Festival earlier this month - Gilroy is delighted to be in the film. "This year's films are fantastic," Gilroy said. […] I remember when we started, one of the other filmmakers said to me, “We're really lucky. This is really good. "You want to be in a good year." It seems like it's competitive or whatever, [it] doesn't really matter. "You want to be in it. This is a very interesting year for movies." He singled out Nathan Fielder's Elizabeth Holmes as a particular favorite.

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from October 7-18 and opens with the European premiere of Andrew Scott's Elsinore. Some of the most glamorous celebrations so far include Ink, No Wild Horse, Synthetic, Paper Tiger, Possible Love, Sanctuary and Labula Negra. Check out THR's Screen Talks coverage of this year's London Film Festival and chat with Andrew Scott, John Malkovich, Javier Bardem, Naomie Aki, Ava DuVernay, Cynthia Erevo, Sofia Coppola and Danny Boyle.

Narnia fans fume over Greta Gerwig's 'The Magician's Brother' trailer: 'Lost its soul to CGI'