From Audrey Hepburn to Pedro Pascal, cellists have become a movie shorthand for sensitivity, intensity and emotional depth. But why has Hollywood turned one orchestral instrument into a character in its own right?

There’s a throwaway line in 2012’s The Avengers, after a character’s death, when his partner is alluded to. “There was a cellist, I think,” muses Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark. It’s a spot of pathos amid the punch-ups – but also rather telling. Because when even a superhero blockbuster reaches for the cello, you know the instrument is carrying more than just a melody.

Earlier this month, a trailer dropped for the upcoming Pedro Pascal drama Behemoth!, in which he plays a celebrated cellist returning to Hollywood to score films. Real-life cellist and film composer Hildur Guðnadóttir says the instrument “is definitely having a moment right now. But it’s always been present.”

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The fallout over Tourette syndrome (TS) activist John Davidson’s outbursts at the Baftas on Sunday continued after Jamie Foxx and Wendell Pierce expressed their dismay at the incident.

Davidson attended the Baftas as I Swear, the film inspired by his life of dealing with hostility triggered by TS, was up for a number of awards. He was heard several times shouting during the ceremony, including using the N-word while actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan were on stage presenting the evening’s first prize.