Pedro Pascal, riding a wave of Emmy buzz for toplining HBO’s The Last of Us, has signed on to star in Weapons, the newest movie project from the filmmakers behind the surprise horror breakout Barbarian.
New Line is behind the feature, which has a script written by Zach Cregger, the actor turned moviemaker who is also sitting in the director’s chair.
Cregger will also produce alongside his Barbarian producing team, Roy Lee of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures. Vertigo’s Miri Yoon also produces.
Plot details are being kept in a lockbox, but Weapons is described as an interrelated, multistory horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.
Character details for Pascal were not revealed.
A fall shoot is being eyed.
Weapons was the subject of an intense bidding war in January, as Hollywood studios and streamers fought for the chance to work with Cregger, whose Barbarian, produced for only $4.5 million, became a favorite of not only audiences and critics but cineastes and fellow filmmakers and actors. New Line ultimately won the auction, making a deal rarely seen in modern times that included, among other stipulations, a guaranteed green light and guaranteed theatrical release.
Pascal appeared in series such as Narcos and Game of Thrones before nabbing the role of helmeted bounty hunter Din Djarin in Star Wars series The Mandalorian. And while the actor’s face was not often seen in the show, Mandalorian’s popularity upped Pascal’s galactic appeal.
That appeal took on a whole new level when he earlier this year starred in The Last of Us, HBO’s adaptation of the Sony video game. Playing the broken and stone-hearted father figure guiding a headstrong young woman in a postapocalyptic America, the show defied the expectations of the zombie genre to focus on the drama and relationships. Critics and TV watchers followed, with the show growing its audience week after week to become a ratings smash for the cable network while also continuing its tradition of putting out elevated and curated series.
Pascal is now gearing up to go into production on the Gladiator sequel for Ridley Scott and Paramount. He also has Ethan Coen’s film Drive-Away Dolls set to be released by Focus Features in September and will head to the Croisette for the Cannes film festival premiere of Strange Way of Life, Pedro Almodóvar’s short film that also stars Ethan Hawke and will distributed by Sony Pictures Classics this fall.
The actor is repped by CAA, Relevant and Jackoway Austen.
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