🎙️ This is a 5AM StoryTalk Podcast BONUS EPISODE. Be sure to also listen to this week’s feature conversation — “Actor David Dastmalchian | Letting the Darkness Speak”.
📖 READ this episode instead by going to the TRANSCRIPT tab.
Actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and comic book creator David Dastmalchian returns to discuss a seminal piece of art from his life — the 1971 film Harold and Maude. It’s an unconventional, hilarious, and ultimately profound love story about…suicide. But also, coming of age, everything that’s wrong with American culture, and the meaning of life.
While I didn’t see this film from screenwriter Colin Higgins and legendary director Hal Ashby until later in life, Harold and Maude was foundational to David’s development as a teenager and, later, as an artist. If you want to understand how he became the person and storyteller he is today, you’ll want to check this bonus episode out!
Please note: Like the first part of my conversation with David, suicide is discussed in this bonus episode. If you’re struggling or in crisis, I’m sorry - there are numbers you can find on the internet to reach out to if you don’t feel you can turn to those close to you. Don’t wait.
If you’d like to listen to this bonus episode with David, but aren’t yet a paid subscriber yourself, you can upgrade now for $6 US a month or $60 a year. You’ll get full access to hundreds of articles and educational resources for artists and art fanatics alike, as well as exclusive articles and podcast bonus episodes like this one.
And don’t forget to listen to the first part of my conversation with David!
Actor David Dastmalchian | Letting the Darkness Speak
🎧 LISTEN to this 5AM StoryTalk episode as audio here at Substack.
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