Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter behind the Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton, returned to directing for the BFI Patrons' Gala's premiere of Behemoth! at the Royal Festival Hall.
Tony Gilroy, who wrote the Bourne films and created Andor, brought Behemoth! to the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank on Tuesday 13 October 2026. It was the BFI Patrons’ Gala at the seventieth London Film Festival, with Pedro Pascal in the lead.
Gilroy was born in New York in 1956 and worked for two decades as a screenwriter before he directed. He wrote and directed Michael Clayton in 2007, which brought him Academy Award nominations for direction and original screenplay.
Duplicity followed two years later. He co-wrote Rogue One before creating Andor, and Behemoth! is his first feature as director since 2012.
The film follows a cello prodigy who has spent his adult life changing orchestra chairs and lovers’ beds. He retreats to a Los Angeles scoring studio to escape his latest affair. Gilroy directs from his own screenplay.
The Gala was the film’s international premiere, and it repeated in the same hall the next morning. A further London screening is at Vue West End on Friday 16 October, before Searchlight Pictures takes it into cinemas across Britain.
Pascal plays the cellist, with Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor and Will Arnett in the cast.