Dev Patel names his first movie idol: “I just thought he was the coolest”
Dev Patel is one of the most underrated actors of our time. Born in London to Indian parents, Patel first came to the public’s attention for playing hypocritical Muslim Anwar Kharral in the hit teen drama Skins. He then made everyone take notice with his lead role in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and has since appeared in a variety of films, from the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel series to medieval drama The Green Knight to bloody action romp Monkey Man, which he also directed.
It goes without saying that Patel has done extremely well, especially given how tough it is for South Asian actors to gain a foothold. Patel’s heritage is regularly represented in his on-screen roles, and, as he discussed in an interview with Film Ink, it played a major part in why he got into acting in the first place.
“I got onto filmmaking because I liked Bruce Lee,” he said. “If you come to my house in America, you’ll see an old Enter the Dragon poster as soon as you enter, then in the guest bedroom there’s one of Fist of Fury, you see Bruce Lee everywhere. He was one of the first guys with pigment, Asian pigment in his skin, that I looked up to. He had dark hair like me, and brown skin, and he was a leading man. And I just thought he was the coolest, as a kid. I feel a great affinity to the culture, and I think it’s fantastic”.
Lee, who was born in California but had Hong Kong heritage, was instrumental in changing the way Asian people were represented in movies. In an era where very few non-white actors were given prominent roles, he was a superstar, a dashing leading man who was always made to look good. He became a hero not just to his fellow Asian Americans but to Black and Hispanic audiences, too, as they revelled in how a non-white performer could dominate Hollywood.
While promoting Monkey Man, Patel explained how his childhood experiences with Lee informed his directorial debut. “The genesis of it was me watching Bruce Lee through a banister as a kid. Enter the Dragon – that was the beginning of my love of cinema, period,” he told Collider. “Seeing a guy like that, that I related to skin pigment-wise, hair, everything, I was like, ‘God, I want to be like that dude.’ Then I started ferociously watching everything – Jet Lee, Sammo [Hung], Donnie Yen, Jackie [Chan]. Then the Indonesian Raid films, Korean cinema. That took my breath away, and took it to a whole new level of filmmaking for me.”
Patel gave a modest answer when asked if he thought of himself as an idol in the way Lee was to him. “I have naturally low self-esteem, so I never think that I’m anybody,” he said. “It’s very shocking when I come here, and people are shouting my name. It’s very strange, I feel … it’s confronting, but I feel a deep sense of humility by it, because of it. But I hope people can see that I’m trying to take risks and dive into characters and give life to stories that haven’t been given in cinema. That’s what I’m here to contribute, that’s what I feel my purpose is. I hope people like the work I do.”
People certainly liked Monkey Man, as it garnered rave reviews from critics across the board. Hopefully, Patel can continue this momentum with his next project, and maybe his poster will hang on the wall of the next big Asian movie star.
