Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania's David Dastmalchian Discusses The Creation Of Veb In The Quantum Realm - Exclusive Interview

Before we start with the new "Ant-Man" movie, I have to tell you that one of my favorite movie scenes last year was in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," when all of the sudden, this familiar face shows up and says, "I'm John Deacon." There were so many wonderful actors in that scene — you as Deacon, Jack Black's Wolfman Jack, Rainn Wilson's Dr. Demento, and Daniel Radcliffe's Weird Al performing the Deacon parody "Another One Rides the Bus." How surreal was it being on set that day?

That is a day in my career that I will never forget. I had no idea what I was in for. I am friends with Al [Yankovic], and we do a charity together for Paul Rudd, Dave Koechner, Eric Stonestreet, and Rob Riggle in Kansas City that's called The Big Slick. We've been going for years, and Al is a guest who always goes, and Al and I became friends through that. He's also mutual friends with Peyton Reed, my incredible friend who directs the "Ant-Man" films. I go to parties at Peyton's and Al and I hang out, and out of the blue, he emailed me and said, "Would you come and do a day on this movie we're making about me?" I said, "Sure, man. If I'm in town, I'll be there." Then he said, "You're going to play John Deacon," and I said, "Who's that?"

I had no idea who John Deacon was [and that he played bass for Queen]. He said, "Doesn't matter. You look him up. But that's the perfect answer." I didn't understand why until I saw the script. I showed up not knowing who else was going to be there that day. All of a sudden, I walk up to the set, and all these titans of comedy [were there]. The Lonely Island guys were there, Paul F. Tompkins was there, Emo Philips was there, and Conan O'Brien was there. Oh, my God, it was incredible. Nina West as Divine was there. It was insane, and with Daniel Radcliffe and Rainn Wilson there, I felt like I had to deliver the funny, which is terrifying. But it was a great experience. Al was there on set. Everybody was super cool. They shot that whole movie in 18 days, so we had to bang it out very quickly, and we nailed it.

The interesting thing about that first volume of "Count Crowley" was that Jerri Bartman was the "Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter." Then, for the next volume, she became the "Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter," and she remains that way for this new volume.

Yes.

What is interesting is that the "amateur" status continues, because it seems like if you're an amateur, you're allowed to make mistakes and your readers learn about those mistakes with Jerri. If you were a professional, that's not so much the case. It makes the story that much more interesting that she's still an amateur because you don't become a professional overnight.

Yes — Jerri has so much yet to learn about monster hunting, but before she can achieve the level that she needs to as a monster hunter, she also has to learn how to fight the biggest monster, which is within herself. She's learning; she's tiptoeing into the beginnings of sobriety and learning about how to take care of herself and how to not hate herself. She's so haunted and tortured by shame, self-consciousness, her depression, her anxiety — so she's an amateur in all regards.

What's interesting — and I love this because it's true for me — was the people who have the information that she needs, let's say Fran at the AA meeting, speak to her and give her the information she needs. In a way, she doesn't like it because she doesn't like being told what to do. But when you're on the journey, you have to start learning how to listen to people even when you don't like the way they deliver the message.

Secondly ... This is important for me to write about a character like Vincent Frights, who, for all intents and purposes, is her monster-hunting mentor — the guy who has all the secrets and knows everything there is to know about hunting monsters. But he is a misogynistic, chauvinistic bigot, and she has to figure out how to navigate her frustrations and feelings with this guy who has all these antiquated, toxic ways of thinking about people who are others and yet has the knowledge she needs, which is something I get.

I have family who I love, who I need to learn from, who I need to be a part of my life, who have some ways of thinking that is so problematic, so toxic. What do I do? Do I walk away, write them off, be done with them? No, because I have to learn from them. I have stuff that they need from me and I have to stick around for. That's been wonderful, writing this amateur character in not just the world of being a monster hunter, but in the world of being a human in some ways. She's almost like just starting to learn how to be a human.

What was the process after getting the news from Peyton Reed?

As soon as he sent me the materials that he had been developing with Jeff [Loveness], the writer, and the VFX team about Veb, I immediately — and whenever it's okay for me to do, so I'll share it publicly — I took my cell phone in the hotel where I was living at that time and I started filming myself as I imagined Veb would be, and Peyton loved it. We started talking, and the next thing I know, I was in London with my "Ant-Man" family shooting these scenes in this epic space odyssey in the Quantum Realm.

Truly, as dark of a place as I was in when I landed there in London — my dad actually passed when I had only been there for about a week — Peyton and everybody else rallied around me. They gave me one of the most joyful experiences I've ever had as an actor, and bringing Veb to life was truly one of the most joyful experiences I've ever had as an actor. It's a character that was completely filmed in a mo-cap suit where everything was up to my imagination, my voice, and my body, to create for my fellow actors, for my camera team, for our VFX artists — every detail of the voice and all of that. It was just my imagination. Peyton said, "Go for it."

I was so happy filming those scenes. I love this character so much, and even though I got that really sad news that my dad had passed while I was there, all of them ... Paul [Rudd] came to me and helped lift my spirits. He was so great during that week; he made me laugh so hard. He had so many jokes, some of which were inappropriate, some of which were ... He's got that magic charm. He's Paul. He's such a special person. He really lifted me up.

Peyton and Stephen Broussard, our producer, said, "David, don't come back to work tomorrow. Don't come back to work on Friday. Take some time. We'll bring [your wife] Eve in for you. You can do what you need to do. You need to go to Kansas, go to the funeral, do what you want to do." I said, "Okay." Then I thought about it, and I said, "No, I need to be around the magic of the 'Ant-Man' family. I need to be in the Quantum Realm," and I went back to work the next day in the Quantum Realm. And man, we made some magic.

James Gunn is in a different place than the last time we talked, with him and Peter Safran taking over DC Universe. Being that you were in the previous iteration of the DC movies with Polka-Dot Man in James' "The Suicide Squad," has he shared with you how the new DCU will differ from what you've seen before?

Honestly, he hasn't. James is the busiest person I know in Hollywood. He is finishing "Guardians [of the Galaxy: Vol.] 3." He's running a studio for DC. He is writing epic features. The last time I got to spend time with James was at his wedding this past fall to Jennifer [Holland], who is, as we all know, the amazing Harcourt on "Peacemaker" and in the DCU.

Here's all I know. All I can say is that there are no better hands for the future of DC to be resting in than the hands of James Gunn and Peter Safran. James Gunn has, since he was a child, had the passion for these characters — the true, devoted love for them, and the vision for them as a storyteller to give audiences what we've been yearning for so long. The next years and years of storytelling that we're going to get from the DC Universe is going to be some of the most fun a lot of us have ever had going to the movies.

I can't wait, because James Gunn brings magic to everything that he touches.

I agree, and he's also an incredible human being. He's the friend that is there for me when I lose my parent or I'm in a dark space. He's a very wise person. He has a heart of gold, and that's what brings so much of the beating heart to the stories that he tells. He's a master of the visuals, the visual world, and his cinematic storytelling is so eye-popping, but that only goes so far. You get burned out if you don't have this pulsing heart underneath all of it. That's what James puts into every line of every piece of dialogue he ever scripts.