Tony Gilroy’s Pedro Pascal Starrer ‘Behemoth!’ to World Premiere at NY Film Festival

Tony Gilroy‘s Pedro Pascal starrer Behemoth! will have its world premiere as the centerpiece selection of the 2026 New York Film Festival.

The Searchlight film, set to hit theaters in December, stars Pascal as a cellist, a former child prodigy from a well-known musical family, who has left his position with a Chicago orchestra, fleeing a bad relationship (Olivia Wilde), and returned to Los Angeles to record film scores and deal with family business. The cast also includes Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams, Margarita Levieva, Hank Azaria and Will Arnett.

The NY Film Festival calls the movie, “a thundering, savvy tribute to the power of music.”

The film is the Oscar-nominated Gilroy’s first feature since wrapping his Emmy-nominated, Peabody-winning Andor series for Disney+, the second season of which released in 2025.

“I have been orbiting NYFF for the great majority of my life,” the writer-director said in a statement. “I was baptized by Fitzcarraldo. I was tending bar across the street and a customer tipped me a single ticket. It was a bad seat to the most remarkable screening I’d ever attended. There were many memorable nights to follow. The centerpiece invitation is a fantasy I’ve conjured more times than I care to admit. NYFF has always been the benchmark for me; the opportunity to premiere a film I cannot wait to show, in that hall, to that audience, feels every bit as thrilling as I’d imagined. I’m honored.”

NY Film Festival artistic director Dennis Lim added, “We are delighted to present the world premiere of Tony Gilroy’s anticipated return to the big screen as this year’s NYFF centerpiece. There is so much to savor in this immaculately crafted film, from its creative use of music to its note-perfect ensemble cast. Holding it all together is a tour de force by Pedro Pascal, one of the performances of the year from one of our true movie stars.”

The 64th New York Film Festival, which will open with the North American premiere of James Gray’s Paper Tiger and close with the world premiere of Ava DuVernay’s 14th, is set to run from Sept. 25-Oct. 12.