Every actor has their different ways of accessing a character. Some do intense research about a particular field, some try to get real world experience in a certain job, and some keep extensive journals that allow them to dig deep in the details. And then there's Pedro Pascal, who took that journaling idea to the next level in the making of Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984. He didn't just keep a diary while digging into the mind of Maxwell Lord, but instead took the script for the blockbuster and turned it into a full "pop-art scrapbook" filled with ideas.
This is a detail that is included in the recent Variety profile of the Mandalorian star, noting that Pascal decided to take that particular route because the blockbuster role was unlike anything he had done before. According to the trade, the actor took photocopies of Max Lord artwork from the pages of DC Comics and then manipulated them "through his lens on the character."
There are a couple of pages from this scrapbook described, with one featuring an image of Max surrounded by text bubbles reading, “You are a f—ing piece of s—.” Unfortunately, it's not made clear if the construction is meant to depict literal public outcry against the character, or possibly his mental state and a bad self-esteem issue.
Describing the process, Pedro Pascal noted that he felt transforming the script was a kind of reenergizing process for him, and that allowed him to consistently live with the character even while at home doing nothing. He explained.
I felt like I had wake myself up again in a big way. This was just a practical way of, like, instead of going home tired and putting Netflix on, [I would] actually deal with this physical thing, doodle and think about it and run it.
Performing a modest reinvention of the character, Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984 will be introduced as a smarmy businessman who has been dubbed the King Of Infomercials – and his big hook is that he promises clients that they can have their deepest desires realized. What he doesn't tell them is that there can be devastatingly serious consequences.
Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we actually get to see the end result of Pedro Pascal's unique approach to Maxwell Lord. After being pushed three times, Wonder Woman 1984 is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on Christmas Day, December 25, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that circumstances in the world by then will allow for the theatrical release. For now, we're keeping an eye out for any and all updates about the blockbuster, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news.
