Dev Patel’s Directorial Debut Brings Back Memories of His Oscar-Winning Trademark Movie
The actor returned to his starting point while directing Monkey Man, his first movie.
Back in 2008, the story of a young Indian genius winning lots of money in the intellectual game, presented in Danny Boyle ’s Oscar-winning hit, touched people’s hearts all over the world, making its leading star, Dev Patel, a highly demanded actor.
Since then he starred in a number of well-received movies, including Lion (2016) and The Green Knight (2021), and now succeeded to direct his first movie titled Monkey Man. It follows a man who participates in the underground fight club urging revenge against a group of corrupt leaders, taking advantage of the poor and the weak.
Patel’s action debut recently premiered at SXSW, where he, as the director, writer and main actor, shared his memories of Monkey Man’s production and all the challenging obstacles which interfered with the filming process.
The actor said that, apart from the constant delays in the movie’s production, he broke his foot and hand while shooting.
“...Everything that could have possibly gone wrong during the making of this film did go wrong <..> It’s really been a humbling experience,” genuinely confessed Patel.
Aside from the pandemic and all the unpleasant obstacles of making the movie, its shooting became some kind of a time machine for the actor, as Monkey Man was shot in the slums of Mumbai, where the already mentioned accoladed Patel’s movie was set.
Indeed, we’re talking about Slumdog Millionaire, which was filmed in one of the biggest slums of India, so the setting of the first Patel-directed movie was familiar to him.
Despite the fact that Patel managed to make Monkey Man “by any means possible”, even when it was done it didn’t mark an end of his suffering as a movie creator.
Being shot in 2021, Monkey Man was supposed to be aired on Netflix, nevertheless, it didn’t work out somehow and its premiere had been constantly delayed. Luckily, filmmaker Jordan Peele, who was involved there as a producer, pitched the movie for theatrical release.
Patel’s directorial debut has already received glowing praise after its screenings at the SXSW festival, and it is emphasized it presents a decent take on John Wick-like action movies.
Monkey Man is scheduled to be released on the 5th of April in theaters.
Source: Critics Choice