David Dastmalchian Studied Mussolini For His 'Street Fighter' Role

Talking with David Dastmalchian is always a pleasure. In addition to being an actor, he’s also a podcaster and comic book writer, which means he’s never at a loss for words. A veteran of a string of acclaimed films like Dune, Prisoners and The Dark Knight, Dastmalchian typically moves between the dark and the goofy (as in The Suicide Squad), but in Street Fighter, he wants to bring both together.

In the live-action film adapting Capcom’s legendary fighting game (which got a new trailer today), Dastmalchian will play the villain M. Bison (or, if you want to stick to the Japanese naming version: Vega). In Bison, there’s both the dangerous dictator and a somewhat over-the-top figure. In other words, the best of both worlds for the actor.

In his interview with Omelete, Dastmalchian, who said he was initially surprised by the invitation to play Bison, revealed how he understood the role and built the villain. His idea was an intriguing one: “What if someone had Mussolini’s ego and megalomania, but no powers?” Check out the full conversation below.

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Guilherme Jacobs: David, it’s great to talk to you. Actually, I interviewed you a few years ago because of The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

David Dastmalchian: Yes, I remember. Thank you. Good to see you. How are you, man? It’s great to see you.

Guilherme Jacobs: I’m good. And you?

David Dastmalchian: Ah, I’m so excited to finally be able to talk about Street Fighter, man. So awesome.

Guilherme Jacobs: Honestly, when you were cast in this movie, I thought, “of course, that makes perfect sense.” Because when I spoke to you about Demeter, I remember you mentioned that when you read Dracula, you thought, “this chapter could be a movie,” you know? And I always get the sense that you think deeply about the worlds you inhabit. So I’m dying to know: what were your thoughts on Street Fighter when this role came your way?

David Dastmalchian: Well, first, thank you for saying you believed in me when you heard I was going to be Bison because, honestly, a lot of people familiar with the game didn’t see me as Bison. I was confused at first too, when Kitao said, “I want you to be my Bison.” So we got together, met up, and started talking. I said, “Can you explain that to me? Because I have a vision and an idea of what that could mean, but I want to know what you mean.” And we started talking about the great tyrants of history, from Greek myths to the 20th century.

And you think about these personalities who led entire movements. Like, I thought a lot about Mussolini. I thought a lot about David Koresh. I thought a lot about Jim Jones — these personalities who are able to gather all these people because they believe in something that will evolve them, lift them out of pain, lift them out of weakness into strength. I could name many others, but I won’t. I’m sure you have an encyclopedic knowledge of that.

Guilherme Jacobs: Yes [laughs].

David Dastmalchian: So that was the approach. And Kitao said — because I said, “You know, when I think of Bison, I think I understand him psychologically, but physically I see a man who has evolved into almost the power of...” You know, when you think of this huge, muscular guy, like I was at 19 when I played football, or you know, I’ve gotten big before, but I was just, like, really curious.

Then he said, “This is the story of Bison trying to get that power and not getting it. He hasn’t achieved... he’s achieved mental power, he’s achieved leadership, he’s intimidating and powerful with his followers, but right now he doesn’t have the thing he needs most, which is Psycho Power.” You know, the power of... in the games, the magic is the essence of... it’s like the Force if you’re watching Star Wars. It’s like spice in Dune. And in this movie, he’s going crazy because he still can’t manifest it, but he’s very close. And if he can gather these warriors in one place, he has the trick to finally try to make it happen.

Guilherme Jacobs: I see.

David Dastmalchian: Now he needs to use all his genius to trick everyone into gathering and fighting so he can achieve that. So that’s what the movie is, and it made sense to me. And I said, “All right, let’s make this movie an absolute hit so we can do another one, and then I’ll go live in Austria for a year and do bodybuilding.”

Guilherme Jacobs: Exactly! Well, I mentioned that I could see the vision, as you put it, because I wrote down here that you’ve played some deeply dark characters, you know, like in Prisoners, or in a very underrated movie, I think, Boogeyman. But you’ve also done what I’d call delightfully silly characters, like Polka-Dot Man or those in the Ant-Man movies. And when I think of Bison, sure, he’s the villain, but there’s a clownishness or flamboyance to him in the games. And I can imagine you blending those two worlds a bit. Where do you think this character lands between dark and goofy?

David Dastmalchian: Interestingly, if you’ve ever watched... when you think about classic Greek monsters and heroes, I learned this early in theater studies about the masks: there’s comedy and drama, tragedy and comedy. They’re just two sides of the same coin. So with Bison, if I can commit a thousand percent to the performance of bringing to life this man who believes so deeply in something and it isn’t working, and he has all these people looking at him, waiting for him to deliver what he promised them, and he still isn’t able to manifest his power — it’s driving him crazy.

So he’s doing things on such a high level of absurdity that that’s where the comedy and the humor are going to come from. I don’t think I’ll ever be very successful as an actor trying to be funny. It just won’t work. I need to commit to the circumstances, to the script, and then allow my own failure, face on the floor, the things that are going to happen to be... And also, the Bison we wanted to create is disturbed. He’s so disturbed by this pursuit of what he believes is possible for people that he is, to some people, probably a little strange. And I love that, because I always remember playing the game with that crazy laugh of his.

Guilherme Jacobs: Yeah, exactly.

David Dastmalchian: I was like, “I want to feel that,” and I just went all in, man. I wanted to punch through concrete blocks, you know, like you can do in the game — except, what if he couldn’t? What if you played as Bison, but you couldn’t do the Psycho Crusher? What if all you could do was just throw punches like a regular human being? So I tried that, and honestly, I still have scars on my hands because I was trying to punch the wall like Bison, but I thought, “I still don’t have that power.” And it made me feel insane. It was incredible.

Guilherme Jacobs: Incredible. Well, I was going to ask about your familiarity with the game. I’m sure you’re going to get tired of that question. Like, what was your relationship with the game? And did you like Bison? No, I guess on your press tour you probably haven’t gotten tired of that question yet.

David Dastmalchian: So, this is like me going to the comic book store every time I had a little extra money. I’d go buy comics, go to the movies, and go to a place called Fun Factory in Kansas, where I grew up, which was an arcade. And we’d play... let’s see. I loved Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, playing by myself, Galaga by myself, and then Street Fighter with my friends.

Guilherme Jacobs: Got it.

David Dastmalchian: Because with Street Fighter you could also play at my friend’s house once home consoles really started taking off and people could start playing Street Fighter II at home. Like, you could get really good with your character and then go play at the arcade. And I put a lot of quarters into a lot of video games at Fun Factory. I started out playing Blanka because I’ve always loved monsters, and I think Blanka was the easiest for me to play as a beginner, because I could just grab people and shock them. And then I started developing a good Chun-Li game and, eventually, Bison.

Guilherme Jacobs: Awesome. Awesome. Okay, well, we have to wrap up, which is a shame because, honestly, you’re one of those guys I feel like I could talk to for like an hour, but...

David Dastmalchian: Let’s do it again! I’ve got a lot of comics coming out right now. I’ve got Street Fighter coming out in October. I hope to be at New York Comic Con to promote all this stuff. I hope I can go wherever it is you live.

Guilherme Jacobs: We have CCXP here in Brazil. You should come someday, it would be amazing.

David Dastmalchian: You know, Brazil is one of my... I’ve never been, and the fans in Brazil are so incredible. I love it. Well, please send my love to everyone in Brazil.

Guilherme Jacobs: I will. I just want to end with this question: there seems to be a lot of camaraderie among you all. The cast seems really close. So I need to know: which cast member would you bring onto Grave Conversations?

David Dastmalchian: Right. I did it with Cody Rhodes. I want to bring Joe, I want to bring Roman Reigns... but I think, you know who I think would be really incredible in the coffin? Eric André. I feel like he’d have a wild perspective.

Guilherme Jacobs: Definitely. Great talking to you, man. Have a great day. See you soon.

David Dastmalchian: Thank you. It was really great talking again, man. Good to see you, my friend.