Recently, it was revealed that Pedro Pascal joined the cast of the highly-anticipated (at least in my little world) film, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” starring Nicolas Cage as himself. In the film, Pascal is said to play an uber-fan of Cage and hires the down-on-his-luck actor to appear at a birthday party. Craziness ensues. But apparently, in an example of life imitating art, it would appear that Pascal is a true Cage fan and his love of the actor helped shape “Wonder Woman 1984.”
Speaking to EW, Pascal, who is also the star of the Disney+ hit series, “The Mandalorian,” talked about his upcoming role as Maxwell Lord in “Wonder Woman 1984.” In the film, Pascal does his best to portray an over-the-top villain, and in the interview, he explained that, in at least one particular scene, he was inspired by Nic Cage and the Oscar winner’s penchant for, uh, emotive acting.
“With ‘Wonder Woman,’ [ co-stars Gal Gadot and Kristen Wiig] are doing the action, baby, and I’m doing the schm-acting!” he says, hilariously elongating that final syllable. “I am hamming it up!” explained Pascal.
LISTEN: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Goes Streaming & Sean Durkin Talks ‘The Nest’ [The Playlist Podcast]
But even though he admits to going a bit over-the-top, he doesn’t feel like it is anything that is a bold choice for the character of Maxwell Lord. In fact, Pascal said the character was pretty well drawn out in the script.
“I didn’t have to take something and figure out how to put more flesh onto it,” he said. “I had to achieve getting into the skin of what was being presented to me…in this case [on ‘Wonder Woman 1984’], there was just so much for me to meet rather than to invent.”
Pascal added, “That was an incredible delight and challenge because Patty Jenkins is a director who loves actors and when she sees she can ask for more, she does. And there isn’t anyone better, in my experience, to give more to.”
Pedro Pascal To Play A Nicolas Cage Superfan In An Upcoming Thriller Starring Nicolas Cage
In addition to Cage being an influence, it has been widely reported that Pascal and his ‘WW84’ cohorts were inspired by President Trump for their ‘80s-era, narcissistic, evil businessman character. But we must ask, is the world ready for a character that combines Nicolas Cage and Donald Trump? We’ll find out when “Wonder Woman 1984” arrives in theaters and HBO Max on December 25.