It’s no exaggeration to say that David Dastmalchian boasts quite an impressive resume as an actor having appeared in major franchise films such asThe Suicide Squad and Dune as well as prestige Oscar winning like Oppenheimer. If that weren’t enough, the prolific entertainer has ventured into comics medium with books published by Marvel and DC as well as his own original creator-owned projects such as Kingdom of Earth. During New York Comic Con, we had the opportunity to sit down with Dastmalchian to reflect on his recent work and tease what’s to come.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Taimur Dar: The first time I interviewed you was over the phone years back for your role as Calendar Man in the Batman: The Long Halloween animated adaptation. So it seems fitting to ask you about voicing The Riddler in the Knightfall animated trilogy. How did the opportunity to voice Riddler come about?
David Dastmalchian:I’m very lucky. I wanted for years to be a part of the voiceover world doing animation. I wanted to be in cartoons based on superheroes because I grew up watching everything from Super Friendsto Ghostbusters. Eventually, after going on thousands of auditions and never getting a chance, I was contacted with an opportunity to do a voiceover job for an animated movie based on The Long Halloween. The person who reached out to me is a voice and casting director named Wes Gleason. He’s the reason I work so much in animation. He has given me all of my jobs. We had such a good experience they kept bringing me back. When it came to Knightfall, they just reached out and asked, “Would you like to be in this?” I loved the comic book and I was so excited.
Taimur Dar: After playing so many comic villains at this point, do you have a bucket list of supervillains you want to play either from DC or otherwise?
David Dastmalchian:Scarecrow. Solomon Grundy. Morbius. I would love to be Mephisto.
Taimur Dar: I’m a huge fan of Grave Conversations, literally the only show where celebrities get to lie down albeit in a casket. How has the experience been producing and hosting your own talk show?
David Dastmalchian:Thank you so much. I love making Grave Conversations. Matthew Lillardis so iconic. I’ll never forget when we were doing the first season and we had Mike Flanagan, Kate Siegel, and Matthew Lillard all come get into the casket. It was so amazing. The reaction was so positive and people responded so strongly to it. It’s been one of the greatest experiences of my creative life. I love doing it. It’s so awesome.
Taimur Dar: You’ve done six seasons thus far. Did you ever expect to be doing Grave Conversations as long as you have been and can we expect more episodes?
David Dastmalchian:I would like to keep making the show for as long as absolutely possible. I want to do Grave Conversations until I’m maybe on m own deathbed!
Taimur Dar: Without a doubt, one of my favorite horror films in the last few years has to be Late Night with the Devil.
Taimur Dar: The fact that The Simpsons did a Treehouse of Horror parody segment of the movie is a huge testament.
David Dastmalchian:I just rewatched it the other night. They did a total homage to Late Night with the Devil. My kids loved that. We always watch Treehouse of Horror of every year.
Taimur Dar: I think it’s safe to say the biggest project you have coming up is the new Street Fightermovie.
David Dastmalchian:Do you have your tickets?
David Dastmalchian:You need to go buy them right now!
Taimur Dar: Though it’s often ridiculed, I have a soft spot for the original 1994 Street Fighter movie especially Raul Julia’s performance as M. Bison which you’re playing in this new film. What drew you to the role?
David Dastmalchian: [Raul Julia’s] performance as M. Bison is one of the most iconic adaptation performances that ever happened. I always looked to him as inspiration because I love acting so much. I love challenging roles like stepping into an iconic villain from a video game that is larger than life. How do you make that feel authentic? How do you create somebody that genuinely feels dangerous like a dictator? That was the challenge and I hope and pray that wherever Julia is that he can look down and be proud of what I did with this role because it’s his role.
Taimur Dar: There was a great interview with Matthew Rhys recently where he was asked how he chooses his projects. He joked that it was “money” before saying how fulfilling it was to work on Widow’s Bay. The fact is that acting a profession that is often “feast or famine.” So how do you go about choosing your jobs?
David Dastmalchian:I’m so lucky. I would say I choose the jobs based on what jobs people want to give me. I don’t have as much control as people may think on intentionality with the work I’ve done. I think I have a special knack for jumping into darker roles and finding authenticity within things that come from science-fiction, superhero, or horror genre probably because I’ve been consuming those stories my whole life. I love them so much. Maybe that’s why.
Taimur Dar: This being New York Comic Con, we have to discuss your work in comics. You obviously have experience in screenwriting so I’m always interested in folks like Kevin Smith who make the jump from screenwriting to the comics medium and thrive much like you have in the last few years. What was the learning curve for you in writing for the comics medium?
David Dastmalchian:I have a long history in screenwriting and playwrighting. I feel like it’s very similar. Comic book writing is like writing fiction mixed with screenwriting. I’m always trying to write strong descriptions and definitions of the worlds in which I’m building. My favorite thing to write is the dialogue. I love when my characters have strong voices. I just keep learning. I feel like I have so much more to go and wan tto learn to be a better comic writer. I often listen to my artists and get a lot of information from them and learn what works for them and what they like and what makes them feel like they’re being supported. That’s one of my favorite ways to write; to talk to the artist first and find out what they want. And then give them the story in a way that hopefully supports them.
Taimur Dar: Finally, any projects you want to promote or plug for our readers?
David Dastmalchian:I’m very proud of what we’re doing at Good Fiend Films right now. That’s my production company. We have several films in post-production that will come out next year including The Shepherd as well as Kodak Super-XX. We also have a number of comic books that I’m very proud of including Kingdom of Earth from Dark Horse and The Accessoriesfrom Panick. I just wrapped production on Season 2 of Murderbot. I’m very grateful. And hopefully we can turn the tide socially and politically in this country in the next year because it’s very dire especially for the people who are [being] targeted.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from NYCC ’26.
