Pedro Pascal says smacking Joaquin Phoenix in new black comedy was ‘really hard’

‘It’s not nice to hit somebody – it doesn’t feel good,’ said the star

Pedro Pascal has claimed that he didn’t want to smack Joaquin Phoenix in the face while making their new film but was convinced into doing it by his co-star.

The two actors star opposite one another in Hereditary director Ari Aster’s new black comedy Eddington. The film, which takes place in a fictional New Mexico town, is set during the Covid-19 pandemic and focuses on a showdown between Phoenix’s bumbling right-wing sheriff, Joe Cross, and Pascal’s elitist liberal mayor, Ted Garcia.

One scene in the film sees Joe call at Ted’s house after a noise complaint is raised, resulting in the mayor slapping the town’s sheriff in the face.

In an interview with Men’s Health, Pascal has revealed that he wasn’t “comfortable” with the scene and even refused to do it at first.

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in ‘Eddington’ (A24 via AP)

“I was not comfortable with slapping Joaquin,” the 50-year-old said. “I even tried to take a stance and spoke with the stunt coordinator, and took the position that I am not comfortable with a slapping.“

However, when Pascal tried to fake the slap while filming, he was convinced by Phoenix to go through with it for real.

“Then we got to shooting it, and I tried to fake it, and Joaquin said, ‘You’ve got to do it,’” explained Pascal. “And it was a surreally fast exchange in between takes, of ‘that didn’t work’, Joaquin saying ‘you’ve got to do it’, and me saying ‘I do?’, and he said ‘yes’. And we did it, and we went right into ‘action’, and I smacked the s*** out of him.”

Phoenix, who was also part of the interview, joked that Pascal “loved” slapping him, but The Fantastic Four actor clarified that he didn’t and that it was “really hard for him”.

“Ironically, I think it was harder for me than it was for him,” he added. “It’s not nice to hit somebody – it doesn’t feel good. Many people would argue with that. I might love to break a chair or something like that, but I don’t want to hit somebody. So, that was really hard actually. It was really hard.”

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Ari Aster and Pedro Pascal on the set of ‘Eddington’ (Richard Foreman/A24 via AP))

It comes after Pascal got honest about a previous role of his. While speaking to LadBible, the actor said that he was so dismayed by the way he looked in Wonder Woman 1984 that he decided never to go clean-shaven again.

The star played villain Maxwell Lord in the DC Comics film released in 2020. In the movie, directed by Patty Jenkins, Pascal is seen without his trademark facial hair.

“I grow such s*** facial hair, but if I were to shave it all off… I really look very [awful]. Strongly disagree with a clean shaven me.

“I was so appalled by the way I look in Wonder Woman 1984. I loved the movie, but I was so appalled by the way that I looked that I never have gone back, unless it were completely necessary.”