Over the course of the past few years, Pedro Pascal has become one of the most famous performers in all of Hollywood. This includes appearances in blockbuster franchises such as Star Wars, The Last of Us, and Game of Thrones, to critically acclaimed roles in smaller productions such as Ari Aster’s Eddington, Ethan Cohen’s Drive-Away Dolls, and Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life.
While the multi-talented performer has been working within the industry for several decades, his recent outings have launched his popularity into the stratosphere, and nowhere is that more apparent than in his upcoming role as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Leading Marvel’s first family in one of the most highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe projects of recent years and already prepping behind the scenes to segue into a lead role in the upcoming one-two punch of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is an indicator of just how huge Pascal’s star power has gotten. However, it’s far from the first time he’s been a part of a superhero franchise. In fact, the actor is now reflecting upon his time in the DC Extended Universe, and expressing his regrets.
Pedro Pascal’s biggest regret about Wonder Woman 1984 is hilarious
After the massive success of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman in 2017, audiences and executives alike were eager to fast-track a sequel. The female-led superhero film was the first bona fide critical and commercial smash success of the DCEU’s tenuous run, and earned the franchise a tremendous amount of goodwill. Sadly, the sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, squandered all of that potential. Released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming in 2020 amidst pandemic lockdowns, the sequel was considered a failure on all fronts. However, one new addition to the cast did stand out to many: Pedro Pascal as villain, Maxwell Lord.
For his role in the film, Pedro Pascal made an unconventional choice: he shaved. The actor’s facial hair-aided visage has become all-but-inseparable from his public persona. For example, despite the fact that Reed Richards is traditionally clean-shaven in the comic books, Pascal’s version is not in the upcoming film. To play the entrepreneurial antagonist of the Wonder Woman sequel, he and director Patty Jenkins agreed that baby-faced was the way to go. However, Pascal recently revealed he now wishes they had not made that choice.
“I grow such shit facial hair, but if I were to shave it all off… I really look very… I strongly disagree with a clean shaven me,” the actor detailed. “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. If they asked me to be shaven for Fantastic Four and insisted, then I would’ve done it. But it was a very collaborative creation for all of our looks in the movie.”
There were many lessons to be learned from the failure of Wonder Woman 1984, both for how to adapt DC source material to the big screen and in terms of how to visually style Pascal, and judging from the success of both James Gunn’s Superman and Pascal’s career, it’s safe to say both have been learned in spades.
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