In Triple Frontier, the latest film from Netflix and director J.C. Chandor, a group of rugged soldiers decide to fight, not for their country, but for themselves. This squad of lifelong friends team up one last time, going rogue in an effort to rob a South American drug kingpin for hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.
Triple Frontier boasts an all-star cast: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Pedro Pascal, Garrett Hedlund, and Charlie Hunnam. As a film, Triple Frontier thrives on multiple levels, bringing a ton of heart and character into the ever-popular “men on a mission” genre, while still maintaining momentum in a non-stop action/adventure setting.
During a New York City press junket for the film, we spoke with Pedro Pascal, who shared his thoughts on the film, from starring in a high-octane movie with a bunch of manly co-leads, to the beautiful shooting locations in Hawaii, to operating as a triple threat in the acting field, with projects ranging from film to television to the Broadway stage.
Screen Rant: Hi, it’s great to meet you!
Screen Rant: So, this movie. I know that you are all professional actors, but… When it’s five guys out in Hawaii, climbing a mountain, do you ever get even the tiniest case of testosterone poisoning and competitiveness with each other?
Pedro Pascal: Good to meet you, too.
Screen Rant: Garrett was telling me about… Err, we’re very close now, so I call him by his first name.
Pedro Pascal: I think we were all a little concerned that was going to be the case. You see a movie like this… But the fact is, this is ultimately a brotherhood. We’re on a mission together and we function as a unit. It really didn’t make any narrative sense to compete with one another. We all seemed to be on the same page in terms of that. And, I think, individually, our characters lean a little more towards generosity than competitiveness. But I could tell there was a trepidation when we all kind of got together, and then, after the first day of being on a shooting range in the Sierra Nevada, was literally the first time that we were all together as a cast, the five of us, excluding the incredible Adria Arjona. We all kind of texted each other and were like, “Oh, this is gonna be good,” because everyone was like, so chill, and ready to just support one another.
Screen Rant: (Laughs) He was telling me about having to take swimming lessons.
Pedro Pascal: Of course. Call him G!
Screen Rant: I suppose, could you tell us a little about that?
Pedro Pascal: Swimming lessons with a mule.
Screen Rant: That sounds beautiful. So, you are, as an actor, you’re doing everything. Triple Frontier? You’re a triple threat! At the same time, you’ve got movies like this and The Equalizer 2 and If Beale Street Could Talk, and TV like The Mandalorian coming up, which I’d love to ask you a million questions about, but I cannot, and will not…
Pedro Pascal: I didn’t need swimming lessons, so… We had to rehearse. We were meant to drive a truck into the water and jump out of it with a body bag and swim towards a raft while being shot at, or getting into a pool with mules and swimming across the pool with a large animal, but the swimming lessons, I skipped. I skipped them in Hawaii, we lived right on the water, and it was called the rainy side of the island, it was Kailua. I’m telling you, it was like the ocean was your swimming pool. You have these dips in the morning before you go to work. It was just ridiculous. Definitely my style.
Screen Rant: At some point! And you just made your Broadway debut.
Pedro Pascal: You will be able to, someday!
Screen Rant: Can you talk a little bit about about those three things and how they fulfill you personally and differently?
Pedro Pascal: Yes.
More: Watch The Triple Frontier Trailer
Pedro Pascal: So, I know Oscar because I did my first play with him in New York, fourteen years ago. Not my first play, but my first professional, like, “under equity contract” off-Broadway show in New York, with Oscar Isaac. So he and I both come from theater. That isn’t out of an ideology, it’s just the training, what training leads to and where you get stock, you know? And as a fan, as a watcher, I grew up watching movies and cable television. And then, as training and beginnings of my career, it was theater, very much, a lot of theater. I’m only having my Broadway debut now because I can’t sing for the life of me. Had I been able to, maybe I would have been on a Broadway stage earlier by being cast in a musical. But anyway, so the idea for me work within the three mediums of television, film and theater, is the only way I understand how to do this, you know? Theater is home, film is the dream, and TV is my entertainment.
- Triple Frontier Release Date: 2019-03-13