David Dastmalchian is one of the rare actors to play two different characters in the MCU. Before he became the lovable slime creature known as Veb in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Dastmalchian played Kurt, the hacker on Scott’s team in the previous two Ant-Man films. While developing Quantumania, director Peyton Reed removed Dastmalchian’s Kurt from the film, only to bring back the actor to play the motion-captured character of Veb. Dastmalchian spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the wild and emotional journey from Kurt to Veb for Ant-Man 3.
“He’s [Peyton] become a dear friend of mine over the years, and he said, ‘David, I’m sad to say we’ve been trying to break this story, and it’s just a very crowded story with so much to do,'” Dastmalchian said. “‘It takes place off of Earth, and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be space to do more than just a cameo. And that would not do the character justice, so I don’t think Kurt is going to be a part of this.'”
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“It was not until quite a bit later [that I heard about Veb],” Dastmalchian continued. “Peyton called me. He goes, ‘David, me and [writer] Jeff Loveness, we’re writing these characters, and I swear to God, this character is you. I think you gotta play him. Will you read it?’ He then sent me the pages, and I immediately knew Veb in my heart. So I started filming myself in my hotel room. And I figured out how I thought Veb would move and how his voice would work.”
Dastmalchian was not originally supposed to provide the movements for Veb. However, Reed loved the idea so much that he convinced Dastmalchian to fly to the set and capture Veb’s movements. The role of Veb ended up becoming a rewarding experience for Dastmalchian.
“I put on this goofy gray motion capture suit, and I was back with my old friends on this crazy planet that they’ve built,” Dastmalchian said. “And I got to just use my imagination and create this crazy, weird, wonderful character. It was some of the most joy I’ve ever had being on a film set.”
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is out in theaters.
Do you want to see more of Veb in the MCU? Let us know in the comment section below!
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