“I find him endlessly curious”: Pedro Pascal Still Respects the No Way Home Actor He Did a $334M Movie With That Was Accused of Promoting White Superiority
Pedro Pascal hasn’t known Willem Dafoe for long but the actor continues to be impressed and influenced by him after starring together in a film.
Pedro Pascal remains one of the most versatile actors in the industry today, considering the density of his work since the Game of Thrones era. However, while Hollywood opens up a treasury of opportunities and choices, Pascal carefully navigates among scripts and projects that call to him and also manages to resonate with the fans and critics.
While box office success was the furthest thing from the actor’s mind when he signed up for the HBO fantasy epic, the future seems to hold nothing but acclaim for Pedro Pascal. But the actor’s journey in the cinematic world began with humble roots and one of the first stars to inspire and set him on his current path was Willem Dafoe.
Willem Dafoe left a mark on Pedro Pascal’s career
Willem Dafoe has been circling the movie circuit even before Pedro Pascal even started down this line of work. After a slew of blockbuster films in the ’80s and ’90s, Dafoe had finally risen to pop culture favoritism with his role as the villainous Norman Osborn aka Green Goblin in the 2002 film, Spider-Man.
A decade and a half later, the actor united with two other powerhouse stars – Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal – on a film that quickly drew ridicule and criticism from the film community. Not only was The Great Wall a box office flop with a rating of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes, it wasalso subjected to claims of white superiority based on the nature of its plot and script.
Despite being directed by Zhang Yimou, one of the most influential Chinese filmmakers of all time, The Great Wall managed to flop so hard that Damon’s own daughter renamed it The Wall, claiming there was nothing great about it (via Marc Maron’s WTF podcast).
However, even amid the rubble of criticism and hatred surrounding the film, Willem Dafoe managed to leave an impression on his co-star Pedro Pascal and continues to inspire and motivate the Game of Thrones actor to this day.
The endless curiosity of Willem Dafoe
Pedro Pascal’s ascension to unchecked and unprecedented popularity after his role in Game of Thrones brought him unexpected opportunities. Although most accelerated his career toward franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, some others were more detrimental to his rating as an A-lister.
The Great Wall was one such film that did nothing to bolster Pascal’s image on the big screen, relegating him to starring as leads in television shows for a considerable time in his career. However, working on The Great Wall also taught him a few crafts and nuances that he would have otherwise missed out on.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about his time with Willem Dafoe on the film, Pascal claimed:
We had a mutual love for our director, Zhang Yimou, and Willem had authored some of the most memorable performances that made huge impressions on my development as an actor. I find him endlessly curious and open, but mostly caring and funny. I can talk to him about anything.
Those impressions on his development as an actor show in his work as well as Pascal seamlessly transitions from a gunslinger that travels the far reaches of the galaxy in The Mandalorian, to a man broken by grief who learns to love and care again in the middle of a post-apocalyptic world in The Last of Us.
Pedro Pascal will return to the big screen in Marvel’s Phase Six film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps as the lead, Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic.
The Great Wall is available to buy/rent on Prime Video and Apple TV.
