Some jobs depart a long-lasting, profound impression. That was true for David Dastmalchian, the star of “Late Night with the Devil,” who discovered he wasn’t fairly able to abandon his speak present host duties after filming ended.
Now, he’s internet hosting an precise speak present however with a mordant twist: Dastmalchian conducts the interviews in Titan Casket coffins for “Grave Conversations.”
“After playing a talk show host in my most recent film ‘Late Night with the Devil,’ I felt myself longing to take the interview format phase of my career one step further… with caskets,” Dastmalchian mentioned in an announcement. “The opportunity to interview my friends and colleagues presented itself with ‘Grave Conversations,’ a hilarious, heartfelt, and personal exploration of some of the things that matter most in life. And death.”
“Grave Conversations” was developed by Elan Gale (Titan Caskets’ artistic director). Bill Dixon wrote the episodes, and Jacob Strunk directed them. The collection premiered August 24 on Instagram with “The Fall of the House of Usher” star Kate Siegel and Dastmalchian in adjoining caskets. Mike Flanagan, the horror auteur behind “Gerald’s Game” and “The Haunting of Hill House,” will slide right into a casket with Dastmalchian for the episode premiering May 1, whereas Matthew Lillard will lie in state May 8.
As the host, Dastmalchian is worlds away from the determined character he performed in “Late Night with the Devil. As David Ehrlich wrote in his review, “Dastmalchian’s nimble performance as a talk show host who wants to push the envelope without losing his audience’s goodwill allows ‘Late Night with the Devil’ to walk the line between horror and satire without losing its balance until the final minutes. Dorsey’s neediness is scary enough that the movie around him can largely survive on the strength of its atmosphere — on the disquiet created between the playful danger of live TV and the dawning realization that Jack is in over his head.”
Instead, Dastmalchian asks offbeat, probing questions within the hushed voice of a priest of an achieved ASMR performer. “Do you think George Washington knew about the dinosaurs?” he asks Flanagan in Episode 2, and instantly, an entire new world of prospects for speak reveals emerges. Sometimes it simply takes the specter of loss of life to brighten up a drained style.
