Pedro Pascal has recently addressed Joaquin Phoenix slap during the filming of their new black comedy, Eddington.
The two actors, who star opposite one another in Ari Aster directed movie, were seen filming the showdown scene between Pedro’s elitist liberal mayor, Ted Garcia and Joaquin’s bumbling right-wing sheriff, Joe Cross.
In an interview with Men’s Health, the Gladiator II actor opened up that he wasn’t “comfortable” with the scene showing mayor smacking the town’s sheriff in the face.
“I was not comfortable with slapping Joaquin,” said the 50-year-old.
Pedro told the outlet, “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 Materialists actor tried to fake the slap while filming, he was convinced by Joaquin 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,’” recalled Pedro.
He continued, “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 him,” stated The Last of Us actor.
Meanwhile, Joaquin was also part of the interview and jokingly said that he “loved” slapping him.
But Pedro clarified, “I think it was harder for me than it was for Joker actor.”
“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,” pointed out Fantastic Four: First Steps star.
Therefore, Pedro added, “It was really hard.”