Fresh Air Weekend: Best Of — Jude Law / Pedro Pascal

Date: September 20, 2025
Hosts: Tonya Moseley (WHYY/NPR)
Guests: Jude Law, Pedro Pascal
Also Featuring: Ken Tucker (rock critic)

Episode Overview

This “Best Of” edition of Fresh Air brings in-depth interviews with acclaimed actors Jude Law and Pedro Pascal, along with Ken Tucker’s review of notable new music releases for the fall. Tonya Moseley explores the personal and professional dimensions of Law and Pascal’s artistry, diving into their acting processes, personal lives, and their views on topics like fame, identity, and family.

I. Jude Law: Beyond Charm — Crafting Characters with Depth

[Segment Start ~02:45]

A. Introducing "Black Rabbit" and the Role of Jake Friedkin

• Law stars in Netflix’s Black Rabbit, playing Jake Friedkin, a magnetic, successful, but morally compromised New York restauranteur. He is also an executive producer on the series, shaping the vision of NYC nightlife.
• The show centers on Jake and his estranged brother Vince (Jason Bateman), whose reappearance threatens the ecosystem of their high-stakes nightlife world.

Jude Law (on being typecast for looks):
"Just the other day I was at the Toronto Film Festival and in at least two or three of the interviews, that's all they wanted to talk about—my looks. And I kind of looked at them and thought, you know, I'm a 52 year old guy, I've got a 30 year career and that's all you're talking about?" (00:35, repeated/reflected near 24:06)

B. On Character Development & Casting

[05:20]

• The dynamic between Jake and Vince mirrors complex real-life relationships, not simply “good vs. evil.”
• Jake is “the front man, the veneer…with a smile and a shoe shine,” while Vince is creative but unreliable.

Jude Law:
"My character Jake is the sort of front man, the veneer, you know, with a smile and a shoe shine. And for all accounts seems to be very successful, very smooth...Vince, played by Jason, is more the creative, anarchic idea guy, but not great at following through." (05:20)

C. Crafting a New Yorker Accent and Persona

[10:25]

• Law discusses the detailed work behind Jake's accent; he treats accents as muscle memory, and builds specificity by imagining backstory, family background, and social influences.
• Law compares these techniques to working out: “You're basically teaching [your mouth and throat] to do different things. So you have drills...you're teaching your tongue to go in a certain way and then...listen a lot.” (13:30)

D. Method Acting & Scent Memory

[15:20]

• Law used scent as an acting tool in Firebrand, hiring a perfumer to create "a noxious odor" to capture Henry VIII’s historically documented stench.
• The smell was so strong it “helped” cast members play their scenes realistically amidst Henry’s decay.

Jude Law:
"She made me this incredible noxious odor that I kind of sprayed on myself...it was really, really, really rancid. Yeah. But it really helped to me. It's very interesting playing someone who is incredibly powerful...yet is sitting in this in a body that is immobile...and having to kind of face himself." (17:23)

E. Family Background & Early Exposure to Theater

[19:34]

• Law’s parents were educators; his mother later became a theater director. Law’s involvement in local amateur theater set the stage for his acting career: “It was very familiar. It was safe, it was fun, you know, seeing adults playing and laughing, figuring stuff out, telling stories.” (20:15)

F. Fame, Beauty & Perceived Limitations

[21:45]

• Law reflects on turning down (then accepting) his The Talented Mr. Ripley role due to typecasting concerns. Although grateful, he still finds the media’s obsession with his looks “frustrating" and limiting.

Jude Law:
"One of the doors it opened was this attention, yes, to what I look like. And I still find that shallow and frustrating, if I'm honest...I'm a 52 year old guy, I've got a 30 year career, and that's all you're talking about?" (24:06)

II. Ken Tucker’s New Music Reviews

[Segment Start ~25:05]

A. Featured Acts

• Big Thief: New album Double Infinity features expanded vocal arrangements.
• Zach Topp: Infuses classic country crooner style into contemporary country; standouts “Good Times and Tan Lines” and “Country Boy Blues.”
• Leve: Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter, merges classical and jazz influences with sharply introspective lyrics.

B. Key Observations & Quotes

• On Big Thief: “Adrian Lenker's voice swoops and soars...”
• On Zach Topp: “Top is making popular a new variation on the neo-traditionalist country music of the 1990s...” (27:26)
• On Leve: Highlights her “smooth jazz phrasing and arrangements” and her lyrics’ emotional honesty.

"Leve, on her new third album, A Matter of Time, cleverly melds her old school influences and writes lyrics that have an invigorating sting to them." (30:12)

III. Pedro Pascal: Identity, Family, and Acting as Healing

[Segment Start ~32:48]

A. On Becoming an Actor and Literary Influences

[34:28]

• Pascal was inspired by stories and performances from earliest childhood: “Just think about seeing E.T. in the movie theater. You know, Gremlins...so I was very, very easy source of building a fantasy.” (34:28)
• Devoured literature and TV/theater: obsessed by The Color Purple, Whoopi Goldberg, James Baldwin, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Pedro Pascal:
"With that show, Whoopi, I mean, I saw that so many times. I could do some of her monologues.” (36:04)

B. Family, Art, and the Power of Representation

• Family movie nights with his mother (a Prince fan) and ballet outings with his sister helped foster a deep engagement with narrative and performance.
• Early exposure to a performing arts program sparked a love for dance—eventually incorporating physicality into his acting.

C. Physicality and Acting

[41:04]

• Pascal describes how his background in dance and movement shapes his characters’ physicality, particularly in roles like Joel for The Last of Us and his fight-heavy roles in Game of Thrones.

Pedro Pascal (on Joel from The Last of Us):
"This is a man who works with his hands. He's a contractor, and he builds things. He...expresses himself through his physical relationship to work...way easier than having a conversation." (41:04)

“Game of Thrones...what the role is most known for is the fight. And that is more dance than you can possibly believe if you don't want to get killed anyway...that is choreography in its purest form.” (42:15)

D. Family History: Exile from Chile & Surviving Trauma

[43:34]

• Pascal’s parents fled Chile under threat because of their opposition to the Pinochet regime, ultimately finding asylum in the U.S.
• He learned the harrowing details only as an adult, recalling one vivid childhood moment watching the film Missing and realizing his mother could have been in danger:

“I remember one very, very vivid experience of seeing the movie Missing...and Sissy Spacek is the size of my mother...and her being out in the streets past curfew by accident and her life being in peril, and me somehow putting all of that together and understanding that—sort of placing my mother in that circumstance as a child and just, like, absolutely falling apart.” (47:40)

E. Movies as Agency and Understanding

[49:24]

• Acting and movies gave Pascal a way to understand and process the world, and he now feels honored to possibly offer the same to others:

“I feel profound gratitude to be doing something that I love to do and the people that I get to do it with.” (49:37)

• He reflects on being a part of a collaborative effort, irrespective of reception: “Always, like, everyone involved is putting their entire selves and bodies into, you know, and cares so much about making it, and it's very bonding, it's very fun, and I don't know anything else.” (49:37)

F. A Special Radio Moment

[50:10]

• Pascal expresses deep personal appreciation:

"I've been listening to NPR through my parents since I was a teenager and my entire adult life, I've been listening to FRESH AIR forever. And getting to sit here with you is very special." (50:10)

Memorable Quotes

• Jude Law (on acting and identity):
  “It was a place of great...community and fun. I remember, you know, sitting in the back of the stalls of this little theater...It was very familiar. It was safe, it was fun, you know, seeing adults playing and laughing, figuring stuff out, telling stories. What an education.” (20:15)

• Pedro Pascal (on family and trauma):
  “If she understood that I was kind of a son who was scared for her, you know, and kind of absorbing the context, but not really knowing how to process it.” (49:09)

Notable Timestamps & Segments

• 05:20 — Jude Law describes Jake and Vince’s dynamic
• 10:48 — Law on New Yorker accent creation and character backstory
• 17:17 — Law’s process with scent memory for Firebrand
• 21:45 — On typecasting, fame, and the frustration of being defined by looks
• 34:28 — Pascal’s early inspirations and passion for storytelling
• 41:04 — Physicality in acting and The Last of Us
• 43:34 — Family’s political exile from Chile
• 47:40 — Childhood realization about parents’ trauma via the film Missing
• 49:37–50:10 — On gratitude and the meaning of acting

Tone & Style

The tone throughout the episode is deeply thoughtful yet warm, fostering intimate insights into the challenges and joys of artistic life. Both Law and Pascal exude humility and introspective humor. Tonya Moseley’s questioning is gentle but probing, eliciting candid stories about family, identity, and growing older in the spotlight.

For listeners:
This episode is a rich exploration of what lies beneath public personas—a testament to the artistry and humanity of two internationally acclaimed actors. It also offers a vibrant snapshot of the fall music scene, making it a blend of culture, reflection, and creative inspiration.