He’s graced multiple Denis Villeneuve films (Prisoners, Dune). He had a starring role in the MCU’s Ant-Man movies, and he played a standout role in James Gunn’s lovely redo of a DCU tale (The Suicide Squad). And now, celebrated character actor David Dastmalchian

is starring in an all-new horror movie following the success of Late Night with the Devil (2023). From director Felipe Vargas, Rosario

is now playing in theaters, and MovieWeb recently caught up with Dastmalchian at a Los Angeles coffee shop event, where he was promoting Rosario by handing out drinks that were themed to the demon-centric movie.
Since the performer has dabbled in both Marvel and DCU projects in addition to independent films like Late Night with the Devil and Rosario, Dastmalchian weighed in on how the two ends of the budget-spectrum compare — and if he prefers working in one or the other.

“Here’s what I prefer: being in the company of directors who care about the artists that they’re working with. Create a safe space where we get to take our imaginations and all of the love that we have for storytelling and just let it explode, whether that’s on a $2 million budget and you’re making a micro-film like Late Night with the Devil, a smaller movie like Rosario, or a giant film like James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. When the filmmaker who’s running the show has strong vision and loves both the artists and the art, I’m in. Now, it would be nice if they all had those budgets, all the support you need creatively.”

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The comic book writer and film actor, David Dastmalchian, just came from a ‘dark place’ before filming the movie.

Dastmalchian continued, “But the challenges that come from smaller budgets sometimes push filmmakers to make really amazing choices. When you look at the production design, when you see what the artists who made Rosario were able to do in Bogota, Colombia — this is not shot in New York City. The movie looks and feels like it’s happening in Manhattan. That’s absolutely not. We shot it in Bogota, Colombia, an incredible city and an incredible country with an incredible film community, where they made something look as good as anything you would see shot in the United States. It was so impressive, man. I want to make more movies there.”
Dastmalchian Describes Entering “Horror Zen”

Mucho Mas Media

Following the new release of Rosario, it’s safe to say the reliably superb Dastmalchian is on a bit of streak when it comes to scary movies. He dished to us on how it gained momentum and what he hopes to see in the genre down the line:

“Late Night with the Devil actually was one of the things that led to, you know, me being in the place of, like, horror zen that I feel like I’m getting to experience… Getting to be a part of a movie like Rosario, getting to be such a integral now part of storytelling with so many different filmmakers who I love in the horror genre space is always been a dream of mine. And I’m so lucky because I’m getting to work with seasoned, like, really experienced filmmakers who know how to tell these kinds of stories and these new, young, fresh voices like Felipe [Vargas], who are bringing a whole new perspective to the genre that’s so important right now. Like, we need more representation in horror. We need more kinds of storytellers, especially young voices who just aren’t cut from the same old Hollywood cloth.”

From Mucho Mas Media, Rosario is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Rosario

3
/5

Release Date

May 2, 2025

Runtime

88 minutes

Director

Felipe Vargas

Writers

Alan Trezza

Producers

Javier Chapa, Jon Silk, Emeraude Toubia