David Dastmalchian on Joining Comic Book Publishing World, Working on 'Creature Commandos' & More

2 days ago

David Dastmalchian chats with THR at San Diego Comic-Con and dishes on joining the comic book publishing world. Plus, he recalls the moment when Margot Robbie and James Gunn supported 'Count Crowley,' joining Jim Lee's panel for DC and working on 'Creature Commandos.'

Transcript

00:00Incredible legend named Mark Hamill did the voice of the Joker answering my phone for me.

00:07And I think what he did with that voice is, to me, as iconic as it gets.

00:12He's in the basement. I should know. I bound and gagged him there.

00:15That's what it goes like. And then he just laughs and cackles.

00:17And it's very loud and obnoxious, and I love it. And I'll never delete it.

00:23Hey, I'm Aaron Couch with The Hollywood Reporter here at San Diego Comic-Con

00:27with actor and comic book writer David Dismalchin. How are you doing?

00:31Amazing. This is day three for me of San Diego Comic-Con 2024,

00:36and it has been literally like one mind-blowing experience after the next.

00:41What I love about what you are doing here this year is, obviously, you've been in a lot of movies,

00:46very busy actor, but this convention actually started as a comic book convention,

00:50and you have many, many comic books that you're kind of ready to unveil to the world.

00:55I mean, what are just a few of them? I know there are probably too many to mention,

00:58but what are a few that you're here kind of talking about?

01:01And thank you for saying that. It is a huge honor for me that I'm now part of the comic book publishing world,

01:05and it's a dream of mine come true. I've been doing Count Crowley for Dark Horse for several years.

01:10We've got a new volume in trade paperback form coming soon for volume three.

01:14I'm also writing a new series for DC Comics.

01:17I get to helm their Creature Commando series, which I'm so excited about.

01:23And then Todd McFarlane's been overseeing a project that I wrote and created

01:27and is about to come out from Image called Knights vs. Samurai.

01:32Also got to do some horror panels for some of the one-shots I've been doing for Dark Horse DC and other publishers.

01:37So it's a really exciting, crazy, nerdvana time for me.

01:40It's quite a next chapter for you, because one story I love that you've told,

01:46you were a nervous kind of first-time comic book writer on the set of The Suicide Squad,

01:51and you would deliver the first issues of Count Crowley to Margot Robbie,

01:55who's also a big comic book geek, and kind of wait to see what she's thought about it.

01:59And then I think out of the blue, what happened?

02:01She tweeted something about it, or that's how you found out she liked it, or what?

02:04I was with my wife Eve at, I think, I want to say an Applebee's in Georgia,

02:11near where we were filming The Suicide Squad, and all of a sudden my phone blew up,

02:14and they were like, oh my gosh, look at what's going on.

02:17And Margot had tweeted when she was still on Twitter, or whatever it's called now.

02:22I just read Count Crowley, and I love it, and I, ah, it's crazy.

02:28I'm very lucky.

02:28James has been a big supporter and fan of my comic book creations,

02:33and he wore a Count Crowley shirt the last day of filming on The Suicide Squad,

02:39and I'm surrounded by really amazing people who've been so supportive.

02:42Yeah, it's amazing.

02:44You didn't know how people would receive this,

02:47and now, what's this, five years later when you're on set,

02:49or four years later, you have seven, eight comics, you have a lot of comics, right?

02:53Yeah, yeah, I think this year I have my writing pen in the process,

02:59and almost to be published somewhere between,

03:02I think we have eight different comic projects that I am working on,

03:05and I'm getting to work with some of the best publishers in the world,

03:09some of the best artists in the world.

03:10I just yesterday got to be on Jim Lee's panel for DC,

03:15and then he unveiled the cover he did for my New Creature Commando series,

03:21which we got to sign prints of.

03:22I'm sitting there in the middle of the floor at Comic-Con at the DC booth,

03:27signing prints of my comic's first cover with Jim Lee.

03:31It's wild.

03:33A lot of people don't realize this.

03:34I didn't actually realize this until people like you told me.

03:38When you're on a film set, there's a lot of downtime.

03:42True.

03:42And how do you spend your downtime?

03:44You're writing, right?

03:45I'm either writing or I'm watching old horror movies.

03:47I always like to set up Shudder or one of my streaming services on my trailer

03:52and bring old Blu-rays and DVDs that I've been collecting.

03:55And I say, oh, like old movies that are now transferred

03:58and have really cool 4K editions.

03:59And then I'm writing.

04:01So there's a lot of downtime.

04:02You're waiting for the next setup.

04:04You're waiting for the crew to get everything ready.

04:08And it's a patient process.

04:09And I find it to be an incredible way to pass the time

04:13as well as to feel like I'm getting to use all this creative energy

04:17I'm taking from all the artists I'm working with

04:19and funneling it into telling a story.

04:21Do you, you know, when you're at home,

04:24do you have an office, a place where you keep your mementos?

04:27Are you also writing there?

04:28Is that, how much of this is done at home?

04:30How much is on set?

04:31I love writing at home.

04:32My office is so cool.

04:33Even I have this very strange house in Los Angeles.

04:36And I've got a big open-air office that's at the top of this weird flight of stairs.

04:40It looks like it's in, like, an old church maybe.

04:42I don't know how to describe my house other than to say it's very weird

04:45and it's totally us.

04:46And it's surrounded by all the old black-and-white glossies I've collected

04:49of, you know, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee and Lon Chaney

04:53and then toys.

04:55I've collected monster toys and superhero toys.

04:57And then I've got just row after row of my long boxes of comics.

05:00So whenever I'm devoid of inspiration and I need a little boost,

05:04I just look around me.

05:06Would you say, do you or your kids have more toys, would you say,

05:09at this point in your life?

05:10Me.

05:11Yeah.

05:11Okay.

05:11Completely.

05:12Do they, but are they hands-off for them?

05:16I try to be cool about it because it's like I don't want to have everything

05:19in, like, you know, hermetically sealed and kept away from it.

05:23It's not a museum, although I get a little agitist sometimes.

05:26Like, I have a spinner rack next to my work desk,

05:28and it's filled with old vintage issues of creepy, eerie magazine,

05:32famous monsters of film land.

05:33And once in a while I'll find an issue in, like, my kid's room,

05:36just, like, creased weird or folded funny.

05:38And I'm like, ugh.

05:39But then I remember, like, they're just things,

05:41and they just carry such wonderful memories.

05:43And I think it's awesome that my kids would want to, like,

05:45peel through those pages.

05:46I want to go back to Creature Commandos.

05:51So James Gunn, his new universe, the first thing out of there is going to be

05:55an animated show.

05:56And he's entrusting you, him and Jim Lee are entrusting you with the comic.

06:00It's unrelated, right?

06:01You kind of get to create your own take.

06:04Yeah.

06:04James' animated series, by the way, I was on the panel yesterday when they

06:08surprised us all with a bunch of footage from Creature Commandos.

06:11It was pretty awesome.

06:12James' series is wholly in the universe that he is building, you know,

06:18and it is incredible.

06:22It's funny how I learned that he was making an animated series.

06:25He and I were on our way up to his bachelor getaway before he got married

06:31to Jennifer Holland, and he said,

06:34What are you working on in the comics?

06:35How's Count Crowley going?

06:36I said, It's great.

06:37Guess what?

06:37I'm getting to do Creature Commandos for DC.

06:40He goes, Look.

06:41And he had already, like, some animatics and footage from his animated series.

06:45I was like, Oh, my God.

06:46And, you know, I was afraid maybe that my comic series would get canceled

06:49because it's a different Creature Commandos than what James is doing.

06:53And he said, No, no, no.

06:54It's totally fine.

06:55It exists.

06:55And publishing is its own thing.

06:57And so mine is a very dark, dramatic horror military story about a group of disparate outcasts

07:07who have monstrous abilities that have been recruited by this doctor who really does care for them

07:12but also is on a very, very thin razor's line between sanity and something else.

07:19And she's trying to help them find purpose in their lives.

07:21And the government may or may not be exploiting them for their abilities

07:25and the fact that their monsters might make it easier for them to get away with some stuff

07:29that they wouldn't maybe want, say, the Justice League to know about.

07:33The razor's line between insanity and maybe something else.

07:37That's interesting.

07:38Or sanity and maybe...

07:39Oh, sanity.

07:40Sanity is not.

07:41Dr. Barbara West's character I got to create for this new world,

07:44and she has just been doing all this incredible work,

07:49and she believes it's all scientifically explainable.

07:53Of course, we would look at it and say this seems a little supernatural,

07:55but she's found a cool technology that helps to activate monsters' superpowers,

08:00let's say, when they're going into battle.

08:02The problem is once, say, a werewolf turns wolf, once a vampire goes full vampire,

08:07it's hard to control them and say they're in the field with fellow soldiers.

08:10So that is what hasn't been tested yet, and yet General Wade Eiling,

08:15who's a DC long-time character who isn't always the most scrupulous general,

08:20he kind of pushes them into a mission that they may not be ready for

08:23and things go a little bit sideways.

08:25They did let me get very violent, bloody, and gory with this series,

08:28so I'm excited for people to see the pages just splattered.

08:32And you got to create a DC character.

08:33That's pretty cool.

08:34And I get to play with DC characters.

08:36I mean, I get Zatanna Zatar makes an appearance very soon into the story,

08:40and she becomes a really important element in the story and other surprises.

08:46Well, let's go into the Deadpool and Wolverine popcorn bucket.

08:50Speaking of superheroes.

08:52Oh, boy, here we go.

08:53So let's do maybe three questions out of here.

08:55Okay, here we go.

08:57I'm nervous.

08:58I'm reaching into Wolverine's mouth.

09:01Oh, I got something.

09:02I have very big hands.

09:04I'm sorry, Wolverine.

09:05I have very big hands.

09:06Okay, I've gotten this question since the first Ant-Man movie I did,

09:12and it's a great question, and I always choke on the answer.

09:15Okay, sorry, this isn't going to be your favorite answer.

09:18If you could have only one superpower, what would it be?

09:21If I could have only one superpower, what would it be?

09:25I know.

09:26I know.

09:27Every time I screw up or, like, get somebody upset with me,

09:33that I could say, I'm sorry, and then they immediately forgive me and move on.

09:36That would be a great superpower.

09:38I'm so annoyed sometimes when I want people to just move on, and they won't.

09:43Okay.

09:44Number two.

09:45So, what is your all-time favorite cinematic universe?

09:53Ooh, interesting.

09:55You've been in Marvel, the MCU.

09:57The DCU.

09:58The DCU.

09:59Yeah, yeah.

09:59And there are many other cinematic universes as well.

10:03There's the Kaufman cinematic universe, of course, the Toxic Avengers,

10:06and the, you know, Sergeant Kabuki Man universes.

10:09But I would say my favorite thus far in the pantheon of cinema would be the MCU.

10:21All right.

10:21Last question.

10:22Let's see.

10:23Who is the most iconic voice in an animated series that comes to mind?

10:28Well, if I had my phone on me, I would pull up my voicemail.

10:32Have you ever called my phone and gotten my voicemail?

10:35I don't think so, no.

10:36Well, it's…

10:37You always pick up for me.

10:38I do.

10:38Of course, Aaron.

10:39I see you calling.

10:40Hello.

10:41So, if you get my voicemail.

10:43My poor mother, may she rest in peace.

10:45It drove her crazy because it's very long.

10:47But I did a film called Sushi Girl when I first moved to Los Angeles,

10:51and one of the stars of that movie was an incredible legend named Mark Hamill.

10:54And since I couldn't attend the wrap party or get his wrap gift, he said,

10:57what would you like?

10:57And I said, would you do my voicemail for me?

10:59So, he took my phone into his trailer, and he did the voice of the Joker

11:03answering my phone for me.

11:05And I think what he did with that voice is, to me, as iconic as it gets.

11:13I had no idea.

11:14That's incredible.

11:15I'm so jealous.

11:16David can't come to the phone right now.

11:18He's in the basement.

11:18I should know.

11:19I bound him, gagged him there.

11:20That's what it goes like.

11:21And then he just laughs and cackles, and it's very loud and obnoxious, and I love it,

11:24and I'll never delete it.

11:25And your late mother suffered through it.

11:28She would listen, and she'd always go, David, when are you going to change that message?

11:32It's so long.

11:33It hurts my ears.

11:34And I go, sorry, Mom.

11:35Just, if I don't answer, don't stay on the phone.

11:39Text me.

11:40How does texting work?

11:43All right.

11:43Well, David Desfalchian, thanks.

11:45Glad you had a good Comic-Con.

11:46Thanks, Hollywood Reporter.

11:47Thank you, Comic-Con.

David Dastmalchian on Joining Comic Book Publishing World, Working on 'Creature Commandos' & More | THR Video

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