The actor discusses his role as the DC Universe's most heinous supervillain.
You may not recognize him by name, but if you enjoy superhero films, you have undoubtedly seen David Dastmalchian. He'll be seen as the hapless supervillain Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad this weekend.
However, the actor debuted in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight not long ago. Between then and now, he's appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a member of Scott Lang's crew in both Ant-Man films, as well as Gotham and The Flash (as supervillain Abra Kadabra) and the animated adaption of The Long Halloween, where he portrays the villain, Calendar Man.
Dastmalchian, who has been a lifelong comics enthusiast (and has even authored his own comic series), compares his murderer's row of comic book roles to winning the jackpot: "I won the lottery, and yet I didn't win the lottery once." I've now won the lottery a dozen times, assuming I counted correctly.”
Even yet, Abner Krill, The Suicide Squad's severely downtrodden, (literally) dot-spewing prisoner, holds a particular place in his heart.
“To encounter someone so plagued with self-doubt and so lost in the world was extremely intriguing to me,” Dastmalchian told Polygon over the phone. It's something I believe we can all connect to on a personal level. [...] When you first meet Abner in this picture, he doesn't seem to have much to live for, and he doesn't. He's the punchline to the joke. That's how I've felt. That's how we've all felt. We've all been in situations when we've wondered, "Why am I here?" What exactly am I doing? What is the point of having the skills I do? Is it true that if I do have any, they are valid, viable, or of any service to the world?”
Polka-Dot For the film, Man's abilities have been modified slightly from his comic book form. Instead of each Polka-Dot on his outfit concealing a cleverly miniaturized weapon or utility, Abner can launch a spray of polka dots from his hands that disintegrate anything they touch. And if he doesn’t shoot dots at least twice a day, he breaks out in a bulbous polka-dot rash and vomits them out instead.
But Dastmalchian is proud of his cosmically cursed character – to him, Polka-Dot Man represents the finest of what the Suicide Squad tale has to offer, even if he is the worst of the villain universe.
“Somewhere out there, Polka Dot Wow has been elected the worst villain [...] and man, what a badge of honor. What a fantastic character to be given a tale about, since that's exactly how all of these people are. That's the appeal of The Suicide Squad, particularly the [John] Ostrander era. That's the brilliance of James Gunn's contribution.”
We're all on the Suicide Squad, according to Dastmalchian.
“These are characters who are meant to be discarded. They're thrown away. It's like, if you complete the mission, that's fantastic. You might be able to get a few minutes off your sentence. You're dead if you don't, and you're dead anyhow if you don't do what we want. That is how many of us in the globe feel. How can you avoid feeling utterly disposable while being a part of the system in which we all live and must exist? As soon as you become a liability to the corporate structure, the system, or, you know, the man — I don't mean our heads are necessarily exploded, but we may be abandoned as if we're nothing in this society. And that’s a terrifying reality.”
As a mostly joking question, I asked Dastmalchian if The Suicide Squad being rated R for (among other things) nudity had anything to do with Polka-Dot Man.
He gamely replied, "I can neither affirm nor deny Polka nudity," yet even that generated a deep bond between himself and Polka-Dot Man.
“I grew up with and have an autoimmune illness called vitiligo, which damages the pigmentation in my body,” Dastmalchian explained. I'm a polka-dot As a child and as an adult, I was harassed and given nicknames that made light of the fact that I have these large, splotchy spots on my body. And James [Gunn] had no idea, but when I was cast as Polka-Dot Man, I finally came to terms with my polka-dots. I’m proud of them now, and I have kind of turned what used to be really debilitating insecurity about them into something that I think makes me unique and makes me different. I’m proud of them, and I try not to cover them up anymore. So that was also really cool for me to get to bring in that personal point of view into Abner.”
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