Pedro Pascal Would Have Done ‘Anything’ to Work with Pedro Almodóvar: ‘Without Question’

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
1

Pedro Pascal is gushing over working with auteur Pedro Almodóvar.

Pascal stars in Almodóvar’s short film “Strange Way of Life” opposite Ethan Hawke. The 30-minute queer Western is confirmed to debut at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, with Pascal playing a man who visits his longtime sheriff friend-slash-lover after 25 years apart. Yet Pascal would have played any role for Almodóvar, as he explained.

More from IndieWire

“It could have been anything that he asked me to do, and I would have done it without question,” Pascal told Insider. “He absolutely opened up an entire world of storytelling, color, culture, rebellion, and sexuality that was just absolutely intoxicating, dangerous, hilarious, heartbreaking, and encompassing the whole spectrum, but with such a signature style.”

The “Last of Us” star added, “To get to work with Ethan [Hawke], whose movies I’ve seen since I was a little kid, who I’ve seen on stage off-Broadway, on Broadway, whose books I’ve read, whose plays I’ve seen him direct, and big movie, small movies, horror movies. It was really an incredible opportunity to go, learn, and to enjoy the experience of being on the level of people like that. Taking it all in was incredible.”

Director Almodóvar previously described “Strange Way of Life” as a “queer western in the sense that there are two men, and they love each other, and they behave in that situation in an opposite way” during podcast “Dua Lipa: At Your Service.”

Almodóvar also told IndieWire’s Eric Kohn that “Strange Way of Life” is his “answer to ‘Brokeback Mountain'” after being in talks to helm the 2004 drama that starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Ang Lee ultimately directed the Oscar winner.

“I think Ang Lee made a wonderful movie, but I never believed that they would give me complete freedom and independence to make what I wanted,” Almodóvar said. “Nobody told me that — they said, ‘You can do whatever you want,’ but I knew that there was a limitation.”

He continued, “The relation between these two guys is animalistic. It was a physical relationship. The punch of the movie comes when they have to separate, and Heath Ledger discovers that he can’t think about leaving. That’s a strong discovery. But until that moment, it is animalistic, and for me it was impossible to have that in the movie because it was a Hollywood movie. You could not have these two guys fucking all the time.”

Best of IndieWire

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.