Pedro Pascal has shared a bit about his experience working on the upcoming queer Western Strange Way of Life.
Directed by gay Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, the 30-minute short film stars Pascal and Ethan Hawke as a gunslinger and sheriff, respectively, who reunite after decades apart. Almodóvar has described it as his “answer to Brokeback Mountain,” which is fitting given that the filmmaker was originally in talks to direct the 2005 film before passing on the project.
Strange Way of Life is officially premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but for those who are unable to make the trek, Pascal has a tease for you in the meantime. During a recent interview with Insider, he opened up about his experience bringing the queer Western to life, praising his acclaimed director’s approach.
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“It could have been anything that [Almodóvar] asked me to do, and I would have done it without question,” the Last of Us star said. “He absolutely opened up an entire world of storytelling, color, culture, rebellion, and sexuality that was just absolutely intoxicating, dangerous, hilarious, heartbreaking, and encompassing the whole spectrum, but with such a signature style.”
Likewise, Pascal had nothing but praise for his co-star Hawke, “whose movies I’ve seen since I was a little kid, who I’ve seen on stage off-Broadway, on Broadway, whose books I’ve read, whose plays I’ve seen him direct.”
“It was really an incredible opportunity to go, learn, and to enjoy the experience of being on the level of people like that,” he concluded. “Taking it all in was incredible.”
Pascal’s comments come just weeks after Almodóvar elaborated on what audiences can expect from the short.
“This is a queer western in the sense that there are two men, and they love each other, and they behave in that situation in an opposite way,” the director said during a March appearance on Dua Lipa’s At Your Service podcast. “What it has that most Westerns don’t have is the kind of dialogue that I don’t think a Western film has ever captured between two men. And now I think I’m telling you too much.”
