Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! Sets World Premiere as 64th New York Film Festival Centerpiece

Marking his first feature in 14 years (and first original in 17), Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! has been confirmed to world premiere as the Centerpiece selection of the 64th New York Film Festival, screening at the Alice Tully Hall on Friday, October 2, with Gilroy, Pedro Pascal, and additional members of the cast in attendance. This also marks the first NYFF Centerpiece selection to world premiere in a decade, the last being Mike Mills’s 20th Century Women in 2016.

Here’s the NYFF synopsis: “Pedro Pascal gives the performance of his career so far as Alex, a cellist picking up the pieces of a fractured life, in this American drama of uncommon intelligence, humor, and grace from Academy Award–nominated writer-director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton). A former child prodigy living in the shadow of a storied musical family, Alex has left his position with an orchestra in Chicago—fleeing a soured relationship with a manic ex (a piledriving Olivia Wilde)—and returned to Los Angeles to record Hollywood film scores and resolve unfinished family business. Using a deft flashback structure to weave in and out of his adult life, while cleverly employing a panoply of original movie compositions to both accompany and comment upon them (in a soundtrack featuring nine of the industry’s leading musicians), Gilroy turns Alex’s desire for stability, meaning, and redemption into a sophisticated drama of the highest order. Behemoth! is a thundering, savvy tribute to the power of music that builds to an emotional wallop of a climax, also featuring stellar supporting work from Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams, and Margarita Levieva, with Hank Azaria and Will Arnett. A Searchlight Pictures release.”

“I have been orbiting NYFF for the great majority of my life,” said Gilroy. “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.”

“We are delighted to present the world premiere of Tony Gilroy’s anticipated return to the big screen as this year’s NYFF Centerpiece,” said Dennis Lim, NYFF Artistic Director. “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 opens with James Gray’s Paper Tiger and closes with Ava DuVernay’s 14th, takes place September 25 through October 12, 2026 with passes on sale now.

See the teaser for Behemoth! below and learn more here: