Cameron and Colin Cairnes Talk ‘Late Night With The Devil’ And Casting David Dastmalchian

There are many things to love about Late Night With The Devil, a horror movie set in 1977 America. Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is the late night talk show host of Night Owls, and he is determined to beat Johnny Carson during the ratings sweep. Filmmakers Cameron and Colin Cairnes talked to Deepest Dream about their critically acclaimed feature which is now playing in theaters.

Late Night With The Devil begins with a several minute documentary style prologue that establishes the backstory of Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian). The passing of his wife along with always trailing The Tonight Show in ratings has taken its toll on Delroy. Desperate for a ratings win, he brings a parapsychologist (June Ross-Mitchell), debunker (Ian Bliss) and a medium (Fayssal Bazzi) on his program.

Supernatural occurences may be happening on this broadcast, and these eerie events is making Delroy’s late night show sidekick Gus (Rhys Auteri) a bit apprehensive. There is a memorable sequence with Gus that deals with practical effects, and I asked Colin and Cameron Cairnes about the advantage of using in-camera effects for their movie.

“I saw an interview with David recently where he talked about how it helps his performance,” said Colin Cairnes. “And I think you get that from a lot of actors. If you can see it in front of you and not just see it, smell the corn syrup, whatever that blood is, but you get something that’s a little bit off putting. It just helps make everything that much more visceral on set for the actors. And we know what we’re getting in camera. Um, it just it’s much more tangible and much more effective. And I think (the audience) can tell the difference. They know when it’s in the room and when it’s just something that’s been plonked on months later. So if you can do it, why not? You know, it’s so much more effective.”

Check out our CinemAddicts review of Late Night With The Devil (podcast and YouTube version):

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David Dastmalchian is a perpetual scene-stealer (The Suicide Squad), and his appreciation for the horror genre made him a perfect fit for Late Night With The Devil.

“We were just very lucky to have him,” said Cameron Cairnes. “Not only is he just a great actor, but he’s a sweet guy. He loves horror films. He is deeply involved in the scene. He writes comic books (horror comics) and he loves the world of regional horror hosts. He’s a big fan of Svengoolie. Um, he’s always showing us little Svengoolie clips while we were shooting. It was a no brainer for us to, to get him on board as Jack, and he just. He just looks the part. He sounds the part. Hopefully more people are going to discover him through this film.”

This interview took place before I knew that the Cairnes brothers utilized AI in their film with three still images. The filmmakers released a statement regarding their use of AI. Check out their full interview below:

Late Night With The Devil is now playing in theaters.