Tony Gilroy's Behemoth! has been named the Centerpiece selection of the 64th New York Film Festival. The announcement, made July 28, places the film's world premiere on October 2 at Lincoln Center. The festival runs September 25 through October 12, 2026. Searchlight Pictures will release the film in theaters December 4.
The selection marks Gilroy's return to feature filmmaking after fourteen years. His last directed film was The Bourne Legacy in 2012. Since then he created Andor for Disney+, which earned 22 Emmy nominations and two Peabody Awards across two seasons. "I have been orbiting NYFF for the great majority of my life," Gilroy said in a statement. "The Centerpiece invitation is a fantasy I've conjured more times than I care to admit."
Pedro Pascal plays Alex, a cellist who leaves a Chicago orchestra to compose scores for Hollywood. The story alternates between the present and flashbacks to Alex's childhood as a musical prodigy from a family of musicians. His controlled life is disrupted by the death of his longtime lover Nadia and a reinvention late in his career he did not plan for. The ensemble includes Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, JoBeth Williams, Margarita Levieva, Hank Azaria, and Will Arnett.
NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim called it "a tour de force by Pedro Pascal, one of the performances of the year from one of our true movie stars."
The 64th NYFF opens with James Gray's Paper Tiger and closes with Ava DuVernay's 14th. Behemoth! sits between them in the Centerpiece slot that has sent more than a few films toward the Oscar conversation before December arrives.