David Dastmalchian is reuniting with filmmaker Christopher Nolan fifteen years after his big break in The Dark Knight. The actor is the most recent addition to the cast of Nolan’s upcoming historical picture Oppenheimer, which centers on J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the A-bomb.
Reuniting with Nolan is a unique time for Dastmalchian, who is coming off of his most successful year as the Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad and a stint as the terrifying Piter De Vries in Dune.
But in 2007, Dastmalchian was working as a telemarketer, a movie theatre usher, and a theatre performer in Chicago when he received a casting call for The Dark Knight. He tried out for Nolan’s role as one of the men in the bank heist sequence, but was not cast. Months later, the actor got a call from the studio informing him that he’d been hired in a new role, that of Joker henchman Thomas Schiff. In a couple of unforgettable moments shot in Chicago and London, he got to work alongside Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and Aaron Eckhart.
Denis Villeneuve would become a fan of Dastmalchian and collaborate with him in the Ant-Man films, which he credited to Nolan.
For a 2018 profile, Dastmalchian told THR, “It all started with him choosing to let me be a part of that film.” “How can you express gratitude to someone who has had such a deep impact on your life?”
After The Dark Knight, it would be more than a decade before he saw Nolan again, until he managed to stumble into him in a park one afternoon. He was able to express his gratitude to the director for having a positive impact on his life.
Dastmalchian just joined the cast of 20th Century Fox’s Stephen King Adaption Boogeyman and has completed work on the studio’s Boston Strangler. In addition to performing, Dastmalchian is the creator of the Count Crowley comics published by Dark Horse. Atlas Artists and Hansen Jacobson’s Duncan Hedges represent him.
