Behemoth! premieres at NYFF: Pedro Pascal, nine-composer score, Dec 4 release
Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! world-premiered as the Centerpiece of the 64th New York Film Festival on 2 October 2026, with Pedro Pascal starring as a cellist whose life is scored by nine Hollywood composers. Searchlight plans a US theatrical release on 4 December 2026. Early reviews are mixed-to-positive; we label them clearly.
By Editorial Team
What we know
- Premiere (FACT, Film at Lincoln Center). Behemoth! screened at Alice Tully Hall on Friday 2 October 2026 as NYFF64 Centerpiece, with Gilroy, Pascal and cast in attendance. The festival runs 25 September–12 October.
- Cast and premise. Pascal plays Alex, a former child prodigy and cellist who leaves a Chicago orchestra, returns to Los Angeles for film-score session work, and confronts family and romantic unfinished business. Supporting cast listed by FilmLinc includes Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams, Margarita Levieva, Hank Azaria and Will Arnett.
- Nine-composer score (FACT, FilmLinc / Deadline). Rather than one composer, the soundtrack features nine industry musicians — Deadline names Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts and Alan Silvestri as “The Behemoth! Collective.”
- Release. Searchlight Pictures; US release date 4 December 2026 (Deadline festival review header; FilmLinc announcement).
Why the score is the story
FilmLinc’s programme note calls the film a drama that uses original movie compositions to accompany and comment on Alex’s life via flashbacks. Deadline’s Pete Hammond, reviewing from NYFF, argues the multi-composer approach delivers one of the year’s richest musical experiences and cites 303 AFM musicians used in Los Angeles scoring sequences. Original song “Your God Is Sleeping,” written for the fictional pop prodigy Viviana, is flagged as a potential breakout.
Gilroy’s last feature as director was The Bourne Legacy (2012); he has since created Andor. The Centerpiece slot marks a high-profile return to theatrical filmmaking. For how awards and audience scores circulate later in the season, our evergreen explainers on Movies & TV remain useful context — including prior coverage of box-office and streaming charts on this site.
Early reviews — labeled
REPORTED / OPINION (critics, not facts about the plot): Deadline’s Hammond is strongly positive on Pascal’s restrained performance and the music. The Hollywood Reporter’s review (headline framing a “wan character study”) is more sceptical about structure and supporting roles. Decider praises the love letter to film-score musicians while criticising how the film treats its women characters. Gold Derby’s round-up notes praise for Pascal and the score alongside complaints about a passive protagonist and nonlinear density. Mixed reactions are normal at festival premieres; Tomatometer aggregates were still forming as of our Sunday check.
Plot spine without spoilers
Deadline’s review outlines the public premise: Alex Serian comes from a musical family — grandfather a session player who died on a 1959 scoring stage, father a frustrated cartoon/TV composer, mother and brother also musicians. After years on the road he returns to Los Angeles for day-rate film sessions while confronting his mother’s health, his brother’s fame hangover, and a possible paternal link to teenage prodigy Viviana Glenn, who is pulled in to replace the composer on the secretive film codenamed Behemoth!. Olivia Wilde plays a manic ex from Chicago; Eva Victor plays Nadia, a complicated earlier relationship. Those are critic-reported story beats, not invented synopsis.
Runtime is listed at 2 hours 7 minutes. Producers include Tony Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg and John Gilroy (who also edited). Casting director Carmen Cuba is credited in Deadline’s piece. None of that requires spoiling the ending; it does explain why music-industry readers and Pascal fans both have hooks.
We chose this over the also-strong Agbara Nla: The Return ₦71 million preview box-office story for the Movies & TV slot because Behemoth has a clear US premiere event, named composers, a firm December release date and multiple English-language critic responses within 48 hours — denser verification for an international film desk item. Agbara Nla remains a strong Nollywood follow-up candidate.
Gilroy’s path back to features
FilmLinc’s director bio reminds readers that Gilroy wrote the first three Bourne films, co-wrote Rogue One, and built Andor into an Emmy-heavy streaming landmark before returning to a character drama about session musicians. Dennis Lim, NYFF artistic director, called Pascal’s work a tour de force and highlighted the film’s creative use of music. Gilroy himself said the Centerpiece invitation fulfilled a long-running fantasy tied to formative NYFF nights — including a tipped ticket to Fitzcarraldo when he was a young bartender across the street.
Those colour quotes are attributed; they do not substitute for seeing the film. Between now and 4 December, expect more critic screenings and possible score-branch awards chatter. We will update only on primary announcements (Searchlight dates, soundtrack releases, guild nominations), not rumour. Runtime is 2 hours 7 minutes per Deadline.
What happens next
- 4 December 2026: planned US theatrical release via Searchlight.
- Awards-season chatter (score branch especially) will intensify after more critic screenings — we will not invent nominations.
- Soundtrack / song release plans have not been detailed in the sources above.
More film coverage: Movies & TV and International Entertainment. Nigerian cinema readers may also like highest-grossing Nollywood films.
Featured image: Photo: Bea Phi, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Pedro Pascal at SXSW 2025. Source.
In-article image: Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Pedro Pascal at San Diego Comic-Con 2017. Source.
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