This is partly thanks to the supporting characters who surround Alex Pascal, including his musician father (played by Hank Azaria) and brother (Will Arnett, who replaced David Harbor midway through production). Sorry babyThe series’ Eva Victor plays Nadya, a cellist with whom Alex begins an affair while working in Dallas, and Olivia Wilde plays Carol, Alex’s leopard-print-wearing ex with vested interests. “When Olivia came in, we thought, ‘Why don’t we start with Olivia before we had Pedro?’ Damn it. She’s just amazing,” says Gilroy. “She’s not an actress anymore. film director.»
But make no mistake: this is Pascal’s film; he appears in every scene, showing 25 years of our hero’s journey, a first for the actor. “Fantastic Four that’s exactly it; It’s in the name – there are four of us. Bella (Ramsey) and I were partners in The Last of Us. Baby Grogu steals the show (on The Mandalorian), and there were three or five of us under the costume of the character Din Djarin,” Pascal recalls. “It was like what I always wanted—a character whose only source is the personal experiences you have.” Gilroy says, “It’s closer to him than anyone has ever seen.”
The whole thing, devoid of the projection mechanics Pascal had become more comfortable with in recent years, made the actor feel vulnerable. “Once I started to feel like I had control of the cello, I completely panicked about how I was going to play the character,” he recalls. “How much of myself am I just bringing into this, and how much am I just showing up as me? And do I even know how to do this? Should it be another world? Should I be on another planet? Should I have special powers? Should there be infected monsters? It’s just so bare. Am I out of practice?”