David Dastmalchian on Late Night with the Devil, The Life of Chuck and Good Fiend Films

Late Night with The Devil. // Courtesy IFC Films & Shudder

After a year on the festival circuit, Late Night with the Devil finally hit theaters this weekend, with a streaming release on Shudder scheduled for April 19 (we reviewed the film at last year’s Chicago Film Festival). 

Directed by Australian sibling duo Cameron and Colin Cairns, the movie purports to show a “lost episode” of 1970s late-night talk show Night Owls, helmed by embattled host Jack Delroy (Overland Park native David Dastmalchian). In a sweeps-week ploy to amp up ratings, Jack invites a parapsychologist and her supposedly possessed young ward as guests for the show’s Halloween episode. Things get out of control.

Long known and loved as a character actor (check him out in Oppenheimer), Late Night with the Devil is a rare leading role for Dastmalchian that allows him to let his nervous energy—and natural-born midwestern affability—shine forth. It’s also his first film working behind the scenes as a producer.

We caught up with Dastmalchian to talk about the movie, his production company Good Fiend Films, and what he’s working on next.

Abby Olcese, The Pitch: I wanted to start by asking about Midwest Nice, which comes up in a moment in Late Night with the Devil. Your character, Jack Delroy, is from Chicago, where you’ve lived, and you’ve also got the experience of being raised around KC. Do you think there’s any relationship between that idea and the mask Jack is putting on for his audience?

David Dastmalchian: I think it’s a front, but I think it’s also an authentic person who still resides in Jack. I love Kansas City and Chicago, so I brought a lot of my own personal history with the midwest into this role. Something that’s disarming and really calming about people from that part of the country is that we don’t feel a need to put on airs. There’s no affect or anything blocking us from saying hi to someone passing on the street, or smiling at someone ordering coffee. It’s maybe something to do with the environment, the space we’re given there, the nature of that reality. I also wanted to infuse Jack with that so the TV audience in the film and the actual audience watching the movie would feel comfortable with him and connect with him, and that would make the journey interesting.

I definitely felt that way. There was no point where I disliked the character, but a few times I wondered about him. 

He makes some ethically questionable choices. I had to decide right out the gate whether this guy was so driven by his own ego that he’ll just endanger other people’s lives, or—and this is the choice I made—is this person so psychologically frayed by lack of treatment for grief, depression and alcoholism, and a lifetime of belief that his value is based on the approval of others, that he bends the boundaries of his own ethical compass as a means to an end. I can definitely identify with that. I’ve absolutely made some asinine choices where I believed I was helping others or myself, but it’s usually never worth it. 

Late Night with The Devil. // Courtesy IFC Films & Shudder

This movie is also obviously steeped in Late Night TV culture. You’ve been really vocal about your love of late-night horror hosts, but how well-versed in Late Night talk shows are you?

I grew up so obsessed with Crematia Mortem in KC, but I did love whenever I got to watch opening monologues of David Letterman, or Johnny Carson or Arsenio Hall. That world was cool and fun, and as I got older there was a new guard of late night hosts like Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert, which I love. I think it’s a wonderful format—and as most things are in entertainment, overly blocked out and dominated by men. I’d love to see more women in that space, or different approaches to it, since it has such a strict formatting style. 

I feel like there are influences all over it—some of Jack’s show “Night Owls” has a very Dick Cavett vibe, there’s a joke with a spider that references an episode of The Larry Sanders Show. Were there any people in particular who inspired you?

For my character’s opening monologue, I looked to Don Lane, also Dick Cavett, Carson and Letterman. But even tonally, I looked at some of the really gonzo talk shows from the 80s, like Morton Downey and Phil Donahue, people who had this real “concern,” this inquisitiveness about strange topics.

So, speaking of that, this movie has a lot of Satanic Panic themes running through it. Movies about possession, like this one, and Immaculate and The First Omen, are kind of having a moment right now. What do you think is the appeal?

Well, we’re living in a vortex of conspiracy-driven fear mongering right now. Since I was a kid that feeling has always been about oppressing and vilifying others. 

I was raised in the suburbs of Kansas City in a very conservative community. One evening, my youth group was visited by a local police detective who was the head of the police department’s occult division. He told us there were ritual killings happening in Kansas City, that there were satanists running rampant trying to initiate us into cults. It was all this veiled, guarded, weird way of leading into conversations about people who were bending the rules of gender normality, queerness. 

It always led back to conversations about people who were different being a threat, all tied into the salaciousness of satanism. Now, here we are, living in a time when the iron fist of conservative nationalism is in full wrecking ball swing, and people are thriving in that space. There are lots of narratives about the horror responding to that. Like, what is the modern-day Michelle Remembers but something that evokes the crazy messaging you see on the internet?

You also got to be a producer on this film through your production company, Good Fiend. How was that experience?

The Cairnses (Late Night with the Devil directors Cameron and Colin) were really receptive to me bringing my knowledge and passion for this space into the film. I actually wanted to bring my passion the most to how we marketed and spread the word about the film. I think storytelling begins before the first draft of a script is written, and it’s not completed until well after marketing is done. I also got to help produce the Boulet Brothers Halfway to Halloween special. It was sort of a tribute to a variety of shows. I may be a little stuck in the 70s and 80s in my taste, but I’m really committed to exploring complex ideas and characters, and that’s what I’m hoping to do more of with Good Fiend.

Late Night with The Devil. // Courtesy IFC Films & Shudder

What else do you have in the pipeline?

We’re continuing to work at telling the story of Jeri Bartman through the Count Crowley comics, and we’re hoping to develop that in other mediums, too. There’s also Knights Vs. Samurai, which I’m working on with Todd McFarlane. There’s also an indie drama called Hide Your Eyes that we’ve been working on for a while, and we’re very close to getting that made. 

We’re developing lots of projects in publishing and film, as well as an unscripted project in the horror space that I’m working on. I also want to work in live events and interactive and immersive events. Like I think it’d be great to come to The Edge of Hell in KC and write a script where it’s a full story that you can explore, something like Sleep No More meets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

I think when we spoke for our feature on you a couple of years ago Hide Your Eyes was in development but had hit a wall. Did Missouri’s new filming incentives help get that process moving again?

Yeah! We’re working on it, and I’ve been talking to Steph Shannon and everyone at the KC Film Office getting that going. It’s been so awesome. There’s so much momentum in the midwest right now for film.

I know we’re running out of time, but before you have to go, I wanted to ask you about The Life of Chuck, since you’re getting to make that with fellow Kingcast regular Mike Flanagan. What can you share about that?

Dastmalchian: It’s such a beautiful script, and it’s based on the work of the King himself, so being part of that, and being part of the Flanaverse is such a gift. Mike and Kate Siegel and I, we’re all part of the same coven of weirdos, we get together and play Werewolf and Blood on the Clocktower. I think the film will scare you and shock you, but it’ll also make people cry.