Check out our exclusive interview with Pedro Pascal, starring as Maxwell Lord in “Wonder Woman: 1984”!
Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord in “Wonder Woman: 1984”
PC: IMDb
We got a chance to sit down with Pedro Pascal who stars as Maxwell Lord in the newest DC Comics film, “Wonder Woman: 1984”! Check out our exclusive interview with him where we discuss working with the incredible director, Patty Jenkins, and the character of Maxwell Lord!
The Knockturnal: So I got to watch “Wonder Woman: 1984”. It was amazing, I felt so much hope and love, and it was a pick me up I really needed. You play the amazing Maxwell Lord and I love Maxwell because I’m a big comic book fan and I’m interested to know what Patty told you about him, what you read in the comics, and what about him that you connected with?
Pedro Pascal: So I was pretty fascinated by the take on Maxwell Lord for this movie. I think that aesthetically, it was clear that the association was with the earlier comics that I was actually more familiar with, and I was familiarizing myself with everything Maxwell Lord but, more and more, that all kind of fell away because what was on the page had such a sort of specific independent originality that honored everything that is DC Comics and yet was kind of taking a big swing at something of its own that seemed like it belonged very much to this movie and to what Patty was after. So with her as my guide; I mean you know that as actors we’ve gotta kiss our director’s asses, but I’m telling you that I couldn’t have taken these kinds of risks without her and without her insisting that I do them and being there to just guide me through the whole thing. But also, you know Lindy Hemming, the costume designer, and everything that she was sort of putting together as far as looks were concerned and references and everything and Jan Sewell. You know the blonde hair and the clean-cut everything, I really relied on them more than anything so that I could just completely deliver myself into something that was either going to work or be completely intolerable.
The Knockturnal: Well, it definitely worked and you got it! Speaking of Patty, you had Patty and Gal kind of as your bosses on this. What was it like to work with the power duo? I mean they’re really just knocking them out.
Pedro Pascal: Bullies man. All home crying every day as you can imagine. You spend a little time with them and you get that vibe instantly, you’re just like “Oh my gosh!” No man, I got to meet Patty and work with her really briefly on this really special project a couple of years before this and I thought that was as good as it gets because I was already such a fan, I love the “Monster” so much, I loved “The Killing”, I was just a huge fan and then what turned out to be such an emotional performance in the first “Wonder Woman”, even though it makes perfect sense that it be that, I still feel like we were all, the whole world was a little caught off guard that it be as rich, that it had as much humor, that it had as much heart, that it be so completely fulfilled. And so, you wouldn’t believe that she’s even better in person!
The Knockturnal: The film has so much heart. What I loved a lot about your character with his relationship with his son and talk about building on that and being a kind of an arc for your character
Pedro Pascal: I just feel like that was something that Patty was so dedicated to in terms of this essential element, almost like an access point to the movie in such an unexpected way and to find something emotional to keep things more unpredictable and to give you the unexpected. You pull the curtain back and what do you find behind every good or bad intention and I thought that there was just a brilliant way of doing that. And of course, for me, it’s literally the complete center of my character in such a sad way because it evokes so much negative impact on the world.
Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord in “Wonder Woman: 1984”
PC: IMDb
The Knockturnal: Yeah it’s crazy because it’s his determination to be better for his son that kind of spins out of control in an interesting way.
Pedro Pascal: Exactly I think that I just attribute that to how special these Wonder Woman movies are in that within this genre, and the world of large-scale action, that the human story in it is really the dominant aspect that motivates everyone and creates the movie experience. I think that that’s Patty, that’s Gal, it’s the entire creative team and producers behind these movies and that’s why we love the first one so much and I think that they push that even further with “1984”.
The Knockturnal: You mentioned it briefly before your character has so many layers he’s not your typical comic book villain. Talk about peeling back the layers of Maxwell Lord
Pedro Pascal: You know, that’s what I love about it so much, that it feels like it’s part of the surprise. It’s kind of the thing that people aren’t expecting. They’re not expecting any kind of a human story behind this sort of like, you know, smirking snake oil salesman person that we’re seeing in these power suits with this power Heron in the images of him that we’re being introduced to and what little we see of him in the trailers. It just seems like this completely Machiavellian character. All of the terrible things that he ends up doing wouldn’t be for the thing that is so completely relatable and human for all of us. And that’s what’s kind of scary and ultimately interesting and effective about the thing and then of course for me as an actor, give me somebody two-dimensionally Machiavellian and I’ll still have a fucking great time, but to have so much more to fill in and to meet and just the richness of that, and the challenge of that, and to do everything that I could to achieve that, which honestly- Patty Jenkins man… Think about the performances in her movies, think about the very specific acting performances that are a part of the Patty Jenkins experience. She makes you go there and it’s the best experience I’ve ever had. Apologies to everyone else I’ve ever worked with, you were all great, but Patty was the best.
See “Wonder Woman: 1984” when it releases in theaters and on HBO Max on December 25th!