Woman Who Played Polka Dot Man’s Mom in ‘The Suicide Squad’ Didn’t Know Extent of Her Role Until She Saw the Movie
The Suicide Squad turned out to be the most expensive Warner Bros. production in recent history, and its outrageous characters and storyline proved to be a draw for viewers. Though the movie didn’t reach astronomical proportions at the box office, it did spawn a few fan-favorite characters. One of them was Polka Dot Man.
Played by David Dastmalchian, he’s a supervillain whose mother haunts him wherever he goes. Her sudden appearances everywhere affected his focus, but they were also some of the most comical scenes in the movie. Interestingly, the actor behind Polka Dot Man’s mother had no idea who she’d be playing.
Polka Dot Man had a traumatic childhood
Though he’s known as one of Batman’s adversaries, fans learned Polka Dot Man’s backstory in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. As a child (whose real name is Abner Krill), his scientist mother subjected him and his siblings to cruel experiments.
Her employment at S.T.A.R. Labs enabled her access to otherworldly compounds and viruses, but her obsession with superheroes turned her into a mad scientist who used her kids as guinea pigs.
Krill saw some of his siblings die, and his need to purge his polka dots is a side effect of the virus that created them. His mother is responsible for his state. Based on his recurring hallucinations of her in his adult life, it’s assumed he may have killed her. Polka Dot Man’s aversion to murder is only abated when he imagines her as the target.
Lynne Ashe stole ‘The Suicide Squad’ show as Polka Dot Man’s mom
There are several sequences in The Suicide Squad where Mama Krill pops up. At one point, she takes the form of every villain in the crew, including Rick Flag, King Shark, Peacemaker, and Bloodsport. Before his crushing death, Polka Dot Man envisioned Starro as his mother.
Lynne Ashe is the woman behind the hilariously haunting character, and the Georgia native explained to Empire magazine that she didn’t know much about her role. Ashe never received a script or any notes about her character.
Her audition only involved busting out some dance moves, and when she showed up to film, Gunn instructed her on how to move and stand. For one character, they told her, “Okay, you’re a shark and you’re being distracted by a butterfly.” Fans can figure out what that meant.
“I think in total I had 22 costumes,” she said. “Which is highly unusual and has never happened to me before. And probably never will again.” Ashe remembered the “Starro scene” where she had to pretend someone was attacking her. She punched, looked down and around, and fought. But she “didn’t know I was going to be five stories tall, punching buildings!”
When Ashe finally saw the movie, she had no idea whether she would be in it. However, she was thrilled to see the finished product. “I was stunned, amazed, and honored.”
Ashe’s current roles include ‘Dopesick’ and ‘Stargirl’
Fans can stream The Suicide Squad and relive Polka Dot Man’s experiences with his mother. But Ashe can be seen in Hulu’s Dopesick, Horror Noire, and CW’s Stargirl. During an interview with Final Boss, she teased that fans may see more of her in the DC universe.
