Gilroy Calls Paramount-WB Merger 'Tragic' at 'Behemoth!' Premiere

Tony Gilroy called the Skydance-WB merger 'tragic' at his 'Behemoth!' NYFF premiere, where Pedro Pascal admitted expecting a 'kinda mean' director.

Tony Gilroy's 'Behemoth!' had its world premiere Friday night at Alice Tully Hall as the centerpiece of the 64th New York Film Festival. Written and directed by Gilroy and produced by Searchlight Pictures on a $36 million budget, the film stars Pedro Pascal as cellist Alex Serian, a former child prodigy who returns home to Los Angeles to compose film scores and reconnect with his family. The cast also includes Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Will Arnett, Hank Azaria, Margarita Levieva and Matthew Lillard. According to Variety, the premiere follows James Gray's opening-night film 'Paper Tiger' and precedes Ava DuVernay's closing documentary '14th.' The film opens in theaters Dec. 4.

In comments to Variety at the premiere, Gilroy called the impending Paramount-Warner Bros. merger under Skydance 'tragic,' arguing it would 'destroy' a 'healthy and beautiful business' in the name of venture capital. 'People say the movie business is in trouble,' he said. 'The business is solid, and to destroy the architecture that made it so in the name of venture capital, it's tragic.' Skydance has tentatively set Tuesday, Oct. 6, to close the merger, consolidating the traditional Big Five studios under four corporate owners. Variety also notes producer Sanne Wohlenberg feared consolidation would make 'possibilities for a filmmaker alarmingly limited.'

Variety frames 'Behemoth!' as exactly the kind of mid-budget, adult-oriented drama that once sustained Hollywood's theatrical business and made careers like Gilroy's possible. Gilroy told the crowd, per Variety, 'This is not an easy movie to greenlight, and it's not an easy movie to sell,' while thanking Searchlight's Matt Greenfield and partners and praising the festival's curation as 'a freakin' lineup.' Deadline's review roundup and the premiere coverage position the film as Gilroy's first major project since finishing 'Andor,' a lyrical love letter to movie music. The contrast between a defiantly mid-budget film and the studio consolidation around it is the story fans are talking about.

At the post-premiere Q&A, Deadline reports Pascal admitted he expected Gilroy to be 'kinda mean' before they worked together, calling the finished film 'this complex Jason Bourne-like puzzle over something that is so intimate and so healing this mysterious way.' Pascal joked the feeling was mutual: 'you thought I was gonna be a dork.' The Chenab Times similarly reports Pascal described the experience as 'intimate and healing,' a sharp contrast with the intricate plotting that defined Gilroy's Bourne films, 'Michael Clayton' and 'Andor.'

'Behemoth!' opens in theaters Dec. 4, per Deadline, giving Searchlight a prestige title for the awards corridor and audiences a test of whether adult mid-budget dramas can still thrive theatrically. Whether Gilroy's merger warnings land with the industry is another question, but his premiere quotes and the film's festival positioning give the discourse a concrete example. For film fans, the next markers are the merger's tentative Oct. 6 close date and the reception the film earns on its December rollout.