This is Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast more what You Hear
weekday Afternoons on the Drive. You've seen him in that fantastic production of Oppenheimer,
but he's also been in Dark Nights, a Million Little Pieces, and
many others like Dune and The Suicide Squad. His newest project is a thrilling
production that's getting a lot of buzz, especially in the international film festivals,
Late Night with the Devil, and it stars David Dustmalchen, who is joining
us now. David, this is a different kind of horror movie. It
really is. Thanks for having me on the show, by the way,
it's great to be here. It's in my heart. Wanting this movie to
succeed would mean accomplishing something that felt like taking you back into the nineteen seventies,
that spooky horror Halloween kind of energy mixed with what it might have felt
like to watch, you know, the Johnny Carson Show on any given night
at ten thirty and just not expecting that after he did a couple of great
bits and interviews, suddenly dread and horror would unfold before your eyes. That
was the goal, and I'm really proud of the film. We made,
and thanks for letting me come on and talk about it. Well, Late
Night with the Devil, it's not only a horror film, it's a bit
macab and your character sets the tone with his eyes from the beginning. Did
you have to wear some sort of contact lens to kind of blow out your
pupil? No, that just happens, that's actually you know, But I
did have to. I had to listen to a lot of people who do
what you do because the character I'm playing is inspired by a number of real
people who were entertainers and DJs and talk show hosts from the you know,
from the past. And so the character I'm playing, Jack Delroy, was
a radio DJ in Chicago who then became a big late night talk show host.
And so just finding that way of presenting myself and speaking and looking directly
into the camera and talking to it, you know, TV audience or finding
the mics on set. It was very different than when you would normally performing
a scene. But I knew if we got that right, if people felt
like they were really watching a late night talk show, then when things do
take a turn for the worst, they would be hopefully so caught up in
the moment that it would be more impactful. Late Night with the Devil is
the film. David Desmalchin is with us. He's the star. It's kind
of a Rosemary's Baby meets Network, and it takes place in that era,
isn't it where horror movies and yakab were they were really getting more gritty.
Yes, yes, it's nineteen seventy seven, it's October thirty. First,
basically, my character is in second place to Carson in the ratings and he
is about to get canned, and so he has to pull out all the
stops. So what he does brings on this young woman who has been being
studied by the psychologist who wrote a recent book that Clay aims to be possessed
by this entity. And of course, for my character, this is an
incredible opportunity to get the ratings boost, get the shock value, et cetera,
et cetera. So you think about those films of that era. You
wanted to feel natural, you wanted to feel seventies. You want the aesthetic
to look right, from the Cassavetti's movies to things like Rosemary's Baby, the
Exorcist, Network, even those made for TV horror films of that era,
like Burnt Offerings. I just wanted that energy, and thankfully Colin and Cameron
Karen's who I give all the credit, who wrote and directed the film,
invited me to be a part of it and to help produce it. They
just nailed it. Their whole team did such a great job and I'm so
proud of the way this film looks and feels. David Desmalchin Late Night with
the Devil. It is out now everywhere getting a lot of as I started
the conversation, getting a lot of buzz with the international and independent film festivals.
Why is that? Is it because it has more of an independent production
value? I think so. I think people get really excited when they know
you made a film for a very very very small amount of money. We
went to Melbourne, Australia to make this movie, which is where Colin and
Cameron are from. So the entire crew is basically their friends and family.
The cast was all local Melbourne actors except for me. I'm the only American
that was a part of the production. And they made this movie for you
know, one tenth of even the smaller budgeted or like the things that you
see right now in theaters that are smaller horror films. This is still like
a tenth of those budgets, and I think it's exciting for people when they
go, oh, wow, you don't have to spend you know, five
million or ten million, or twenty million or one hundred million dollars on a
film to create something that is captivating and engaging. If you use the old
school style of filmmaking where you put the writing, the performance, and then
they used a lot of practical effects which take more time and they're not as
you know, easy to fix, as say doing then there's nothing wrong with
you know, digital effects. I do lots of films with cool digital effects,
but we just didn't have the money for that. So I think people
got excited by the reality that there we were just like we're making an old
John Carpenter film with the makeup artists trying to put the the latex over the
wound and make the blood splatter it just the right time. You've only got
one take to do it. You can feel it on the screen, you
know, it's a it's a cool feeling. I was going to ask you
about that too, because that's that immediately when I was looking at it was
like Wow, they used very little CG in this if at all got it
right. We had, we just didn't have the money for it. So
the planning that went into making sure we nailed it now there is if you've
seen the film, anyone who's seen the film, and I hope you revisit
it because it's a fun movie. And I'm not just saying this because I'm
think after producer, and I do think it's a fun movie to watch a
couple of times because then you catch stuff you missed the first time. But
there's one big moment in the film which we knew was going to require some
visual effects and some CGI. So the idea was, let's get everything that
we possibly can hand with practical you know, Latex kro Syrup and guyed Red
and all the old school tricks, and then we know we can make this
one moment really shine and put whatever bit we've got to do that. And
so it's always a collaborative effort if you're making a good film, it's always,
you know. And everybody was pitching in. Like I said, it
felt like a little family down there, and I was just so lucky.
I couldn't believe how great all the dialects were too, because I showed up
and I thought, oh my gosh, I'm the only American. And then
all of the other cast were just pitch perfect in their voices and their performances.
It was really impressive. See it all with Late Night with the Devil
David Dustmunchin is the Star and it's available livery where you get movies. Thank
you for joining us, David, Thank you so much. It's great to
talk to you. Have a great one. Nice Lee. Thanks for listening
to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen
to The Drive weekday afternoons from five to seven. And iHeartMedia presentation.