Time CapsuleTime
David Dastmalchian
HOLLYWOOD’S KING OF KOOK ON MOMENTS FROM HIS SCREEN LIFE
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
“THE FIRST PERSON I ever really latched onto as a hero was Lon Chaney,” says David Dastmalchian. And you can see why. The 48- year-old American may not have reached Man Of A Thousand Faces status just yet, but he’s giving it a damn good go, using his natural intensity as a starting point to create a mob of memorable and mostly madcap characters, culminating in this month’s Late Night With The Devil, in which he plays a ’70s talk-show host who has an encounter with a demon live on air. Here, he looks back at images from his wild career to date.
HOST WITH THE GHOST
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (2024)
“We’re in Melbourne, Australia, at the Docklands Studios, and I’m staring at the incredible Ingrid Torelli, who was just chillingly horrifying as Lilly. This was, for me, the first time to play a role that was not only a leading man, but a character who was so outside of myself. Yes, Jack Delroy looks like me, with sideburns and ’70s hair and a bad suit, but there was more to it than that. The way he used his face, the way he used his hands, the way he used his voice. It was an incredibly intense challenge for me. We only had the full audience for a few days of shooting, but we had the band almost every day. Imagine having a live band playing every time you walk on stage.