Pedro Pascal steps into a rare leading showcase in “Behemoth!,” delivering a restrained, deeply internal performance that could place him in the best actor conversation ahead of the 99th Academy Awards.

Tony Gilroy’s drama had its world premiere Friday night at Alice Tully Hall, where it screened as the centerpiece selection of the New York Film Festival. It marks Gilroy’s first feature as a director since 2012’s “The Bourne Legacy.”

Pascal plays Alex Serian, a former child prodigy raised in a family of Los Angeles studio musicians. After spending 20 years on tour, Alex returns home to record scores for Hollywood films — a homecoming that forces him to confront the relationships and memories behind his earlier departure.

Gilroy tells that story through a series of flashbacks triggered by music. Whenever Alex begins playing the opening cue from another movie score, he is pulled back toward the people and events he tried to leave behind. Rather than spelling out those emotions through dialogue, Pascal communicates them through pauses, glances and subtle shifts in posture.

That understated approach makes “Behemoth!” an important cinematic vehicle for an actor whose rise was largely powered by television. Pascal was almost 40 when he played Oberyn Martell on “Game of Thrones,” followed by roles in “Narcos,” “The Mandalorian” and “The Last of Us.”

His film work has included the 2022 action-comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” in which he played Javi, a billionaire Nicolas Cage superfan who may also have been a cartel kingpin. Pedro Almodóvar’s short “Strange Way of Life,” Celine Song’s “Materialists” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington” offered further range, but “Behemoth!” builds an entire feature around Pascal’s ability to hold the screen without overtly explaining what his character feels.

A Family Drama Driven by Music

Alex’s emotional conflict involves his father, played by Hank Azaria, and his brother, played by Will Arnett. Olivia Wilde portrays the former partner he cannot fully leave behind, bringing an obsessive and volatile energy to the role.

The performance adds to a year in which Wilde directed and starred in “The Invite” and appeared in “I Want Your Sex.” Her work in “Behemoth!” also invites comparison with Cameron Diaz’s performance in “Vanilla Sky,” which earned Golden Globe and SAG nominations but not an Academy Award nomination.

Music is more than a dramatic device in Gilroy’s film. Nine composers were recruited to create scores for different fictional movies within the story, allowing the soundtrack to move among genres and eras alongside Alex’s memories.

The composing team consists of Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad, Brandon Roberts and Alan Silvestri. Their credits cited in connection with the project include “Get Out,” “Up,” “Michael Clayton,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Pixar’s “Dream Productions,” “Andor” and “Forrest Gump.”

The title “Behemoth!” refers to the enormous fictional movie toward which the story builds. Gilroy designed the film as a tribute to the Los Angeles scoring community that he believes is disappearing.

That nine-composer structure could present an unusual awards question. Under a film academy rule change introduced in 2024, as many as three composers can receive individual original-score statuettes. Nine composers would not fit within that framework unless they entered as a group and shared a nomination, which would mean a single Oscar statuette.

Several members of the team already have notable Oscar histories. Giacchino won for “Up” in 2010. Howard has received multiple nominations without a victory, while Silvestri has also never won.

A Potentially Historic Best Actor Bid

Pascal’s possible awards run carries wider significance for Latino representation in the best actor category. José Ferrer, a Puerto Rican, became the first Latino performer to win best actor for “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Seventy-five years later, he remains the only one.

Mexican actor Anthony Quinn won two supporting Oscars and later received lead nominations for “Wild Is the Wind” and “Zorba the Greek,” but did not win best actor. Other Latino nominees in the category have included Edward James Olmos for “Stand and Deliver,” Demián Bichir for “A Better Life” and Colman Domingo for “Rustin” and “Sing Sing.” Last season, Wagner Moura became the first Brazilian nominated in the category, for “The Secret Agent.”

Pascal may not be the only Latino actor with a possible path to the upcoming Academy Awards. John Leguizamo received the Career Achievement Award at the Critics Choice Celebracion ceremony on the same day as the “Behemoth!” premiere. He plays Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd, in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” Leguizamo has never received an Oscar nomination, though that could change this year.

“Behemoth!” is unlikely to land the same way for every viewer. Its portrait of a gifted but damaged protagonist, its movies-within-the-movie construction and its deliberately contained climax may prove divisive. At its center, however, is a story about love, memory and the things people believe they are owed — carried by Pascal at his quietest.

What Happens Next?

“Behemoth!” opens Dec. 4. Its release will determine whether Pascal’s cello-playing turn can move from festival acclaim into a historic Oscar campaign.