00:00It does look a bit like you've just sort of tried to go in the bathroom and he's sort of
00:02come out.
00:04I was like, sorry. Didn't mean to watch you pee.
00:09I only hunt imperial war criminals. I'll take out every bad guy in your deck of cards.
00:20This isn't about revenge. It's about preventing another war.
00:25Hi, I'm Alex from NME and today I'm joined by an actor with a capital A.
00:29He's smooth, he's cool, he has impeccable music taste. It's Pedro Pascal.
00:34A capital A?
00:36Yeah.
00:36Oh, I thought this... a different word came to mind.
00:41I would never call you that. Ever.
00:44We're here to talk about The Mandalorian and Grogu, so let's start with that.
00:47Okay.
00:48I've always wanted to ask you about the voice. It's sensual, it's very bedroom.
00:52Yeah.
00:53How did you land on that and what is the actual process of getting the effect in the studio?
00:59There's such an interesting process that goes into making the role alive.
01:04There are brilliant actors that share the suit with me.
01:09Brendan Wayne, whom John has worked with since Cowboys and Aliens,
01:14was at the very start of authoring the physicality of this character.
01:18Lateef Crowder is the ultimate fighter.
01:21Mando is fighting 80% of the time, so.
01:24And then I've spent, you know, a significant amount of time in the suit.
01:29And so this collaborative effort, and then I think that we just kind of got it,
01:35because you don't want it to be too monotone.
01:36You want the subtleties to kind of match the subtleties of the physicality.
01:41There's a lot of surgical work that goes into it, actually.
01:46And probably sound filters and stuff like that that help a lot.
01:50Okay. Pretty good answer.
01:52It's now the time of the interview where I compliment you again on your immaculate band t-shirt game.
01:58Oh, yeah.
01:59And I thought we might use that as a prism through which to sort of learn a bit more
02:03about your own music taste.
02:05Which one? Okay.
02:06What I'm going to show you.
02:06First up, a classic...
02:08The Strokes.
02:09The Strokes t-shirt.
02:10Yeah, yeah.
02:11Tell me about that t-shirt, and what does that band mean to you?
02:13Well, the Strokes, they're the 2000s. I was like fully...
02:18You know, I was like past nerding out on music, I think.
02:22I was working so hard to get a job, and just like in my struggling adult era.
02:31And the Strokes, I think...
02:33They fit that.
02:34Is a band.
02:34Well, they fit it, but they also kind of penetrated.
02:36They were so good, and it was so...
02:39It would really kind of like penetrate the grind, I think.
02:42And I was just like, what is this, you know? Who are they?
02:47The logo's good as well for a t-shirt, isn't it?
02:49And the logo was great. It's a blue matchy thing with the Fantastic Four.
02:54The next one I've got is a Cypress Hill t-shirt.
02:56Okay, now we're getting into my formation.
03:01Cypress Hill, that was high school for me.
03:03I bought this shirt myself. This is my shirt.
03:05You kept it all that time?
03:06As opposed to the Strokes.
03:08No, I found it later in life, but I bought it because of what Cypress Hill means to me.
03:14And it's my shirt. It's my shirt. It's in my drawer.
03:17No one put you in that. You decided to wear that.
03:19Yeah, exactly. And every now and then I bust it out.
03:24It's a slimming shirt, so I've got to be in the right shape to put it on.
03:30But Cypress Hill is high school for me.
03:32Yeah, where was high school?
03:33High school was in Los Alamitos, which is Orange County bordering Long Beach in Southern California.
03:41Okay, so it's on Cali Cool, Cypress Hill kind of thing.
03:44West Coast, baby.
03:45Oh, I've got one last one, which you might have already guessed which one this is.
03:49We can add one more minute since I like this one.
03:52The cure.
03:53Well, the cure, that's like middle school and high school for me, if people are seeing this.
03:59But we know how big of a fan the cure you are.
04:00I also bought this shirt myself.
04:02I bought it in Paris at a record store.
04:04And so my stylist is going to be pretty annoyed.
04:08Although I do get her approval.
04:12It's my shirt.
04:13And the cure is the cure.
04:15And I finally got to see the cure live for the first time here in London.
04:19Yeah.
04:19And with Eben Moss-Bacharac while we were shooting Fantastic Four.
04:23And it was one of the best shows I thought.
04:26I presumed that it was probably going to be a bit, you know, it's so rude of me.
04:31But it was like, you know, it's a long time ago.
04:35I probably missed, like, the era of when it was best to see them live.
04:41And it was literally one of the best shows I'd ever seen.
04:46And I was in tears for most of it.
04:50Did you get to meet him afterwards?
04:51I didn't.
04:52No, I wouldn't dare.
04:53I can't with musicians.
04:54They're gods to me.
04:55You know, movie stars as well, Zagorny Weaver.
04:58But at least we can talk about something, you know, a shared experience and shared skill.
05:04But musicians and singers and stuff like that, they're just like aliens to me.
05:07What's the last one?
05:08So are you interested to hear?
05:10Yeah.
05:10It's not a T-shirt.
05:11It wasn't.
05:11I just wanted to see what the story behind the picture was, really.
05:15Because I don't think anyone's asked you this, but what's going on here?
05:19Because we've got someone there that others might know.
05:22It's kind of a labyrinth in 30 Rock, backstage at SNL.
05:28And this was the 50th.
05:29So it was the most surreal, because you're going to find a bathroom to pee, a public bathroom
05:36to pee, whatever you're running into, the likes of Paul McCartney or Meryl Streep.
05:41You're telling me you went to pee and you just opened the door and there's...
05:44Well, I was coming down the steps because I was being called to go and get ready for the next
05:49sketch.
05:49And I bumped, slammed into Paul McCartney.
05:55And we had actually had a moment, a face-to-face conversation and hello and the sweetest of exchanges.
06:03And in that time, my friend Coco was pulling her phone out to get a picture.
06:09So this was after we had had a very, very lovely face-to-face.
06:14It does look a bit like you've just sort of tried to go in the bathroom and these sort of
06:17come out.
06:18I was like, sorry, didn't mean to watch you pee.
06:24Mandalorian, you will suffer.
06:28Then it will be his turn.
06:31Monsters.
06:33Okay, we ask everyone this, so it's good that you get to answer it as well.
06:36If you had to pick one album that you always go back to, what would it be and why?
06:41Purple Rain.
06:42Prince.
06:42Prince of the Revolution.
06:44Tell me more about your relationship to that.
06:45That's my favourite album that's ever existed.
06:49I can listen to it start to finish if I have, you know,
06:54enough private space to kind of like, you know, go through my feelings with it.
07:00Do you remember when you first heard it?
07:01Yeah, my family went in 1984 to go see the movie.
07:08Oh, really?
07:09Yeah, yeah.
07:10I was nine.
07:13It was rated R, but, you know, it was the 80s.
07:15And my dad is a big, he's a doctor, but he loved movies.
07:20We'd take us to the movies.
07:21I went to a lot of, you know, I went to movies on school nights a lot when he wanted
07:24to go.
07:24It was such a gift.
07:28And my mom liked movies, but it wasn't the same.
07:31Like, she wouldn't go with us all the time.
07:33But Purple Rain, because she was such a, she loved Prince so much.
07:37It was a family event, all of us together, my mom, my dad, my older sister and me,
07:44before my younger siblings were born, went together as a family to see Purple Rain.
07:48So there's obviously that memory.
07:50And it's also the best pop music and rock music that's ever been written.
07:54I'm not going to argue with you, but thanks so much for chatting to us.
07:57It's been a pleasure to hear about your musical stories.
07:58Thank you very much.
08:00It's time.
08:06Are you scared?
08:08You should be.
08:10Good job, baby.
08:14This is the way.
08:33Good job, baby.
08:34Good job, baby.
08:34Good job, baby.
08:34Good job, baby.
08:35Good job, baby.
08:35Good job, baby.
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