We catch up with actor David Dastmalchian at the Moon Knight red carpet premiere to discuss reuniting with Christopher Nolan and much more.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand with the release of Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac as the titular hero. To celebrate the limited series' debut, Marvel held a special red carpet premiere, which Screen Rant attended. At the event, we had an opportunity to talk with not just the creative team behind Moon Knight, but also other talents who have contributed to the larger MCU.
One such actor is David Dastmalchian, who played a supporting role as Kurt in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Over the years, he's put together an extensive and impressive résumé, recently reuniting with director Christopher Nolan on Oppenheimer. At the Moon Knight premiere, Screen Rant caught up with Dastmalchian.
Screen Rant: We have some catching up to do because let's talk about all the castings that have happened since.
David Dastmalchian: Since the last time I saw you?
Yes.
David Dastmalchian: Yeah. It's been weird, it's been amazing. And you're talking about me.
Yes. I'm talking about you.
David Dastmalchian: There's been some incredible castings in the world of movie-making, but I have been literally counting my blessings every night because I go like, "Okay. I just got to go work on this incredible film, storytelling, dark drama about the Boston strangler with this incredible cast," and then I went right into this Stephen King adaptation, The Boogeyman with this incredible cast, and then I'm now a part of Christopher Nolan's.
Yes. Reunited, I guess. It's like a full circle.
David Dastmalchian: It's really weird, Ash, because my first job, my first film job ever was working for him in a movie that changed all of our lives as moviegoers, but also for me as just an actor, it changed everything. I've since then always wanted to not only get to work with him again, but just properly thank him and be like, "You changed my life." And then, when I got the call that he thought there was a role that I would be right for in his new film, I couldn't believe it. I can't believe I get to work with him again. He's one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and I'm going to get to work with him twice.
Did you guys have that conversation?
David Dastmalchian: Yeah. I'm sure I made an ass of myself. I went to meet him at Universal Studios and he was in the middle of prepping an incredible, massive film. I went in and talked to him for a second and got to say thanks for having me. He just wanted to catch up. He said that he had really enjoyed the Suicide Squad and that he had enjoyed Polka-Dot Man, which warmed my heart. And then, he said he had loved Dune. We got to talk about these other incredible projects and these other filmmakers that I loved so much. It's crazy. It's hard to believe that it's real.
That's incredible. We're here for Moon Knight.
David Dastmalchian: Moon Knight was always one of my favorite superheroes ever. I started collecting comics [in] third and fourth grade, and Moon Knight – Fist of Khonshu was one of the first comics that I was totally obsessed over. Moon Knight became a part of the West Coast Avengers, which was the series that I first started collecting monthly. He's gone through so many different iterations and there's been different, incredible incarnations of what Moon Knight is. When I found out that they were doing this and that Oscar was going to be playing Moon Knight, I just was like, "I'm dead. I'm dead."
What happens if Kurt and Moon Knight meet?
David Dastmalchian: What do you mean? Isn't that why I'm here tonight?
Oh, right, right, right.
David Dastmalchian: It's the big spoiler alert.
I don't think I got to that episode.
David Dastmalchian: Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. You haven't gotten there. It's kind of pivotal in the whole universe of the Moon Knight, Marc Spector, Kurt, their destinies are super crossed. Kurt had a really wonderful resurrection ... What's the word? I guess not a resurrection because he got eaten, but in Marvel's What If...?, which was such a surprise when they asked me if I was available to do some Kurt in a Marvel What If...?I was like, "Oh, yes, please."
Is Kurt Quantumaniaming?
David Dastmalchian: It doesn't look like it.
No!
David Dastmalchian: But that's okay. I know they're making something incredible. I can't wait to see what Peyton [Reed] does next. He's one of my favorite directors as he's yours too, one of our favorite people. He's been so busy. I have tried to stay in touch, but he's making an incredible film right now.
You're as they call booked and busy.
David Dastmalchian: You know what? That's right. Booked and busy. No. I am not able to fully grasp right now how much cool movies I'm getting to be a part of making in this moment in my life. As you know, the kids are my everything. It's really fun for me now to have my kids keeping these weird tallies like, "Dad, how many times are you going to die in something? Dad, how many bad guys do you got to play?" They're making charts and graphs about dad's bad guys, dad's deaths and that's cool.
Do you know your death count?
David Dastmalchian: No, but I need to because I did a podcast just the other day about characters who die in stuff a lot. I was like, "I should really know that. I need to cut a little reel together." At my actual funeral, what would be really fun is if you could watch the ways that I've died in make-believe over and over and over again.
That would be beautiful. What are the chances we'd ever get a Polka-Dot man prequel?
David Dastmalchian: Well ...
Give the people what they want.
David Dastmalchian: This is Hollywood. Nothing is impossible. Anything could happen. Although his end was pretty epic, I don't throw that term around lightly. I felt like getting crushed by a five-story tall intergalactic starfish alien, evil overlord was pretty-
Top of the death reel?
David Dastmalchian: That's pretty good stuff there. That needs to be the last moment of the death reel. Goodness, who knows? Maybe I could just be one of the dots that's left and it has some kind of consciousness. The dot can slither around and move.
Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes debut Wednesdays.
