It’s not each actor that may say they made their big-screen debut in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, taking part in one of many Joker’s freaky henchmen, however David Dastmalchian is just not each actor. He’s been showing in films and TV for years, although his large leading-man breakout got here pretty just lately, in 2023’s Late Night With the Devil.
With that, he went from being “that man” to a face with a reputation everybody acknowledges. Alongside the best way he’s finished some attention-grabbing facet gigs, together with writing comics and internet hosting a YouTube collection (Grave Conversations) through which he and his superstar company chat whereas reclining in coffins. His earlier work has been attention-grabbing too, with credit in Twin Peaks: The Return, the reboot of MacGyver (because the recurring baddie), Netflix horror hit Fowl Field, and Hulu true crime story The Boston Strangler (because the title character, or one among them a minimum of).
Apparently not being keen on sleep or holidays, Dastmalchian has extra coming very quickly, together with roles in Mike Flanagan’s Lifetime of Chuck, Bryan Fuller’s function directorial debut Mud Bunny, season two of One Piece, and Dexter: Resurrection, to call a couple of.
At present, although, he’s co-starring on one among our new favourite TV reveals: Murderbot. And that’s what’s impressed this checklist of Dastmalchian’s most excellently bizarre sci-fi and horror roles to this point.
1. Murderbot
On the present Apple TV+ sci-fi present, Dastmalchian performs Gurathin, the “augmented human” member of the survey staff Murderbot is assigned to guard. Although he has extra in frequent with the resident robotic than anybody else, Gurathin remains to be very suspicious of the AI of their midst, to the purpose of being antagonistic—lengthy earlier than he realizes, because the viewers learns early on, that Murderbot has hacked its programming and doesn’t truly should obey any orders. Gurathin’s an advanced man, one thing the present explores extra in later episodes, and Dastmalchian infuses him with a mix of skepticism and vulnerability that feels appropriately awkward for the character.
2-3. Early DC TV: The Flash and Gotham
Whereas Dastmalchian’s collaborations with James Gunn pre-date Gunn’s ascension to the highest job at DC Studios—and we’ll get to these!—so too does his affiliation with DC Comics characters. In 2017, he had a two-episode run as Dwight Pollard (a morgue employee who’s secretly a cultist making an attempt to revive the present’s proto-Joker character) on Gotham; and he popped up twice on The Flash taking part in supervillain Abra Kadabra.
4. The Suicide Squad
In a misfit team-up that additionally included King Shark, we’re nonetheless leaning towards Dastmalchian’s meta-human, pustule-popping Polka-Dot Man as probably the most ridiculous character in James Gunn’s 2021 DC Studios movie. There’s some poignancy that goes with that, but, however ridiculous all the identical. In 2016, Dastmalchian additionally had a small function amid the office-building carnage within the Gunn-scripted action-horror story The Belko Experiment.
5. Ant-Man and Its Sequels
Not one to simply keep on with DC Studios, Dastmalchian additionally popped up in all three of Marvel’s Ant-Man films, taking part in Scott Lang’s Russian laptop hacker buddy Kurt within the first two. The character’s accent and distinctively cheesy type of dressing (to not point out hairstyling) made him stand out among the many ensemble forged. The fan favourite even popped up on Marvel’s animated alt-reality collection, What If…?, although seeing as the way it was the “What If… Zombies?!” episode, he ended up finally succumbing to an undead Wanda Maximoff.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania introduced again Dastmalchian as a slimy Quantum Realm dweller named Veb, as a result of you may’t spell “Ant-Man” with out “Dastmalchian.” Metaphorically talking.
6. Denis Villeneuve instances three
In Prisoners, he’s a creepy as hell, maze-obsessed suspected youngster kidnapper who shoots himself earlier than cops can completely vet all of the repulsive and seemingly irrefutable proof tying him to the crimes. In Blade Runner 2049, he’s the crime lab tech who confirms the mysterious buried skeleton is a girl who gave delivery—and a replicant at that, a element so startling he’s killed for being related to it. In Dune, his computer-like mind, abilities with poison, and sadistic tendencies are put to good use the Harkonnens.
Principally, if Denis Villeneuve must fill a small function with a gifted actor able to bringing nuance to a ghoulish kind of character—he goes straight to Dastmalchian.
7. The Boogeyman
One other “disturbed man” function, this time in Rob Savage’s 2023 story of a father and two younger daughters grieving the current lack of the household matriarch. Dastmalchian performs a person who’s suffered his personal horrible loss, and reveals up early within the film to ship a macabre warning about evil spirits—earlier than passing on the nice past himself. As in lots of horror films previous, a complete lot of hassle that follows may need been prevented, if solely the principle characters had paid nearer consideration to what they assume is a raving lunatic.
8. Rosario
This recent horror indie lends style cred to the proceedings by casting Dastmalchian because the greasy neighbor of an aged lady who dies amid a blizzard—trapping her estranged granddaughter in with the corpse. Whereas supernatural forces provide nearly all of the menace in Rosario, Dastmalchian’s character is there so as to add much more unease to the state of affairs. He’s quirky, too; let’s simply say if you happen to borrow his air fryer, he’ll be very to get it again prior to later.
9. Final Voyage of the Demeter
Dastmalchian assessments his sea legs aboard the identical ship bringing Dracula from Bulgaria to London, taking part in the ill-fated however decided quartermaster on the equally ill-fated voyage. Forward of the movie’s 2023 launch, his standing as not only a horror actor, however a diehard horror fan, got here by in an interview with Fangoria: “I’m grateful to be part of making the primary, for my part, completely scary Dracula movie to come back alongside in a really, very, very very long time,” he mentioned. “The truth that I’m part of not solely a Dracula film, however a Common Photos Dracula film, and the truth that it’s going to be in cinemas and that individuals are going to get to go and be on the ship, the Demeter, which I’ve at all times dreamt of telling that story.”
10. Late Night time With the Satan
With retro type that completely captures its late 1977 talk-show setting, this 2023 found-footage story imagines a TV host has determined to movie a reside program in honor of Halloween with fastidiously chosen spooky company. It’s a gimmick that backfires when the host’s personal darkish previous reaches out from past the grave—however the journey to get there may be entertaining as hell, with Dastmalchian giving an excellent efficiency as a person whose glib exterior hides some relatively terrifying secrets and techniques.
What are your favourite Dastmalchian performances so far? Share them (style and non-genre too!) within the feedback under.
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