Pedro Pascal Pushes Back Against Media Narratives

These days, it’s less about sipping coffee and nailing a charming answer. Forget charming. It’s just about not saying something completely insane that’ll have to be walked back and have your head staked on a board to be poked by the internet. That’s why Pedro Pascal is such a relief to listen to.

Even with Hollywood’s media machine honed to a fine point by decades of scandal, crisis communications, and multiple live-tweeting egos, Pedro Pascal is that rare creature: A celebrity who isn’t afraid to say something real.

At 50 years old, Pascal is riding the crest of his current wave of fame. After years of growing popularity thanks to a consistently strong and diverse body of work, the actor has hit the big time. These days, he is best known for roles as Gaston in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast, Saul Berenson on Showtime’s espionage thriller, Homeland, and now as Dr. Reed Richards on The Fantastic Four: First Steps, out now.

He’s also got more than 11 million followers on Instagram. Yet, despite being in the global spotlight with ever-growing public interest in his career, Pedro Pascal hasn’t been locked away in a tower of white noise whispers for a publicist. Even when he’s not being direct about social and political issues in his public-facing work, like with nonprofits Doctors Without Borders and The Trevor Project, Pascal has never shied away from trying to use his voice and influence for good.

Just this month, during a press blitz for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Pascal gave some rare one-on-one time to Sky News London. In the four-minute and two-second interview, Pascal talked about the tightrope walk of speaking on sensitive subjects, his early life in Chile and adoption by a U.S. soldier, and what he was like at 15. Watch above.

“I think it’s very easy to get scared, no matter what you sort of talk about,” Pascal told Sky. “There are so many different ways that things can get kind of fractured and have a life of itself.”

It’s a rare, clear-eyed moment from a star whose words will likely be pored over and carefully placed in echo chambers far and wide. It’s like Pascal’s quietly preparing all of us for the truth here. In an age of TikTok soundbites, misleading headlines, and drastic stock market swings tied to the 280-character musings of billionaires, being a celebrity is a tense and difficult business.

In the shadow of cancel culture, and the ostracization that can come for a slight misstep, Pascal is taking the risk of speaking in public bare. And his honesty is refreshing. The world needs a straight-shooter like Pascal more than ever, but to many industry insiders, talking candidly about anything, even entirely unrelated to one’s profession, is foolhardy, career-killing behavior.

For most actors, directors, and public figures, they might be right. But even though Pascal is perfectly aware of the dangers of even making a semi-controversial remark, he’s just not going to stop talking. “There’s one thing that you can say and no matter what your intention behind it, it is lost in all of these different headlines, I suppose,” Pascal added before summarizing the whole interview in one brief line: “But I’ll never shut up.”

In the internet age, one line might well be the closest Pascal will ever come to a soundbite. But it sums up the appeal of his off-screen work, as well. Pascal is as unflinching as he is talented. In between working hours on the big-budget MCU project, Pascal has often been seen out in the wild in cast-off t-shirts, riding buses, or —like back in March 2023—spotlighting food blockades in Gaza by sharing stories to his 11.8 million Instagram followers.

Earlier in 2023, Pascal was also seen out on the street in London wearing a “Protect The Dolls” T-shirt as a way of supporting drag shows following a Saudi government ban.

Pedro Pascal’s openness is one reason he’s so perfect for his current role. In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Pascal stars as Dr. Reed Richards, a character whose responsibilities to family and community are piled on top of one another. We see the Richards family as they await the birth of their first child, as Dr. Richards and his wife, Sue Storm, played by Vanessa Kirby, talk through how they’re going to be the best parents possible. Pascal’s choice to stand by what he feels is right—even in the face of a sea of criticism or political firestorms—mirrors that internal struggle between family, sense of responsibility, and his career.

In a sense, Pascal as Richards is a perfect piece of casting. It’s that intersection between polar pressures that Pascal is known for balancing: the celebrity and superstardom that comes with the job, with the down-to-earth intelligence to see what needs to be done.

Fortunately for Pascal fans, The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman (the WandaVision helmer) has promised that the film will feel like its own singular point in the wider MCU. The film also has a very strong cast, with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn. See the rest of the cast here.

Fans will be watching Pascal in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Pascal will be watching what we’re saying about him, too. There will be a soundbite, and people will latch on. There’s no escaping the cycle. But no matter how Pascal is handled or sliced and diced by the publicity machine, as Reed Richards, he shows us how to live with that pressure. After all, he already has the decades of experience to prove that being “fantastic” is sometimes just about speaking out—even when it’s risky.