David Dastmalchian is most recognizable as one of the Joker's henchmen in The Dark Knight and more recently as the Russian hacker Kurt in Ant-Man. Between casting calls, on-set takes, and Hollywood meetings, Dastmalchian has found time to indulge his love of comic books with a fresh new horror series for Dark Horse titled Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter. He joined guest host Ian Punnett (Twitter) to discuss his UFO story, new graphic novel project, and his upcoming role The Suicide Squad.
Dastmalchian reported wrapping his work on The Suicide Squad in which he plays a role thought to be the super villain known as Polka-Dot Man or Mister Polka-Dot. "The part that I am playing in The Suicide Squad has been an evolving mystery, as much to myself as to the public," he revealed enigmatically. Dastmalchian spoke about his breakthrough role in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and how far he had come from the demons of heroin addiction. "I'm standing [on set] feet away from an alley where I had slept in my car," he recalled.
Dastmalchian announced the first four issues of his Count Crowley comic book have been made into a trade paperback. Written by Dastmalchian and drawn by artist Lukas Ketner, the series follows a late night Creature Feature host who discovers monsters are real and trying to control the world's news and information. "It's been one of the greatest creative joys of my life," he said.
Dastmalchian also shared details from a UFO encounter he had at eight years old while living in a suburb of Kansas City in the mid-1980s . "When I talk about it gives me the chills," he admitted, noting he has since come to understand he will never fully grasp what happened to him that night. Dastmalchian described seeing several small blue orbs moving toward him, though the orbs inexplicably never increased in size. The orbs flew in a formation and came as close as 25 feet away from his window, he estimated.
News segment guest: Jay Bluemke