Dev Patel overcame “absolute catastrophe” to make new movie
Dev Patel has spoken about the experience of shooting his directorial debut, Monkey Man, which is set for release on April 5th.
Patel wrote, directed, produced, and stars in Monkey Man, which follows protagonist Kid on the quest to avenge the death of his mother. The film premiered earlier this year at South by Southwest and has received positive reviews so far.
The actor-turned-director termed the making of the film the “most demanding thing I’ve ever done in my life,” during a recent appearance on Reddit AMA, suggesting that every day they faced “absolute catastrophe.”
Patel had initially planned to shoot Monkey Man in India, but Covid-19 forced his plans to change. They decided to shoot on a “tiny island in Indonesia” instead, where the crew would form a bubble in a hotel. “It was a grueling nine months of absolute joy and utter chaos,” Patel remembered.
Though the project had found a new home, Patel faced further issues when the borders closed. Unable to bring in any new actors, he doubled up the roles of tailors and accountants, putting them in front of the camera as well as behind it.
He also used ingenious ways to get around broken equipment, including camera rigs made of rope and filming on go pros. “In a very long nutshell,” he concluded, “every obstacle provided us with a new opportunity to innovate. BOOM!”
Despite the continuous catastrophe they faced, filming of Monkey Man was wrapped up by the spring of 2021 and attracted the attention and support of Jordan Peele. The movie is now set for release in theatres on April 5th, 2024.
In a two-and-a-half star review of the film, Far Out wrote that Patel delivers a “gritty and guttural debut,” diving “headfirst into trauma, anger, Hindu mythology, religion, and fairytale.”
As well as marking his directorial debut, Monkey Man will be Patel’s first full-length film since David Lowery’s The Green Knight in 2021. Since starring in the celebrated A24 picture, Patel has only appeared on-screen in Wes Anderson’s series of short film adaptations last year.
Patel starred alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes in two of Anderson’s short films for Netflix, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Poison, both of which were inspired by Roald Dahl’s short stories. The former won Anderson his first-ever Academy Award at this year’s ceremony.
Watch the trailer for Monkey Man, the directorial debut from Dev Patel, below. The film is set for release on April 5th.
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