Actor Dev Patel has directed the hottest film release of 2024 so far, with discussion around his directorial debut Monkey Man dominating discussion online ahead of its release on Friday.
The Skins alumnus, 33, wowed the prestigious SXSW film festival audience when it premiered there earlier this month, nabbing a standing ovation and critical praise that has only grown in recent weeks.
Monkey Man has been dubbed a ‘cinematic knockout’, ‘triumphant’ and – in a nod to his first big film role – ‘Slumdog KILLionaire’ by excited critics and viewers online.
Patel also attracted the support of Hollywood heavyweight producer Jordan Peele thanks to his creativity and vision, with the Get Out and Nope filmmaker convincing Universal to release Monkey Man after it was dropped by its original studio.
In fact, Patel thought his 10-year-dream was destined to stay on the shelf forever until that moment, but that’s not even the half of everything that went wrong for this film during its making – from equipment failure and grisly injuries to running out of money for props, the star dubbed it a ‘catastrophe’.
However, he’s also called the ‘utter chaos’ of production an ‘absolute joy’ and dedicated the imaginatively gory yet heartfelt film to his grandfather and the stories he would tell him.
So here’s a deep dive into all the reasons you should be as excited as you probably already for Monkey Man
The glowing critical reception
It can be hard sometimes for a film to wow when all the talk about it pre-release has been so fevered and largely positive.
Luckily, Monkey Man is such a jam-packed and frenetic ride of violent fights, unexpected humour and an ode to all things action flick – but with a deeply emotional core – that it’s hard to spoil, or exactly pin down, what’s in store for an audience.
In simple plot terms, the movie, which also stars Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sikandar Kher, Vipin Sharma and Ashwini Kalsekar, follows an anonymous young man (Patel) as he unleashes a campaign of vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimise the poor and powerless.
Peele praised it as ‘a movie AND a film’ at Monkey Man’s London screening, and Patel is clearly keen to infuse it with his heritage, inspirations, and culture, as well as make an action film that goes to sensitive territory beyond people just simply (and stylishly) beating each other to a pulp.
Time Out has praised it as ‘the most ferocious action movie since The Raid’ (one of Patel’s favourites), while Empire magazine dubs him ‘the unlikely action god’.
Everything that could go wrong, did
Back to that mention of ‘catastrophe’ earlier – and Patel, who also dubbed Monkey Man his ‘best friend, worst enemy and greatest teacher’, was not exaggerating.
In a Reddit AMA conducted with fans on Thursday, Patel revealed a catalogue of seemingly never-ending issues the production faced.
‘I begged our financier not to shut us down a few weeks before principal photography,’ the star wrote. ‘We were meant to shoot in India then Covid hit. I lost my initial production designer and [cinematographer] and the film was basically dead, then we pivoted and went to a tiny island in Indonesia where we could create a bubble in an empty hotel for the whole crew of nearly 500 people. It was a gruelling nine months of absolute joy and utter chaos.’
He explained that all the locations they prepped for months at ‘we lost day of’, while also – once borders closed, halting supporting artists from flying in – having ‘to put every tailor, lighting guy, accountant etc. in front of the camera’.
Patel revealed that most of the equipment broke, meaning they ‘literally shot stuff on my mobile phone [and] go pros’.
They also had days with no money to finish sets, leading them to – at one point – crawl around glueing pieces of wood back together between each shot to re-use break away tables.
Ever the optimist, the Lion actor added: ‘In a very long nutshell, every obstacle provided us with a new opportunity to innovate. BOOM!’
Patel poured literal blood and sweat into Monkey Man
As has been covered pretty extensively in the press already, Patel really put himself through the wringer to make Monkey Man.
Before shooting, he broke his toes, and then proceeded to tear his shoulder while filming a fight scene and also came away with a serious eye infection after he crawled around on the bathroom floor for one scene.
But the most challenging injury he faced was a broken hand, which he had a screw drilled though in place of a cast, because the film’s small budget couldn’t stretch to removing a cast digitally in post-production.
His hand swelled up ‘like an elephant’s’ and he explained, as per Variety: ‘You can see in the film that there are some wraps sometimes — that’s from the surgery. I got on a plane, they put a screw in, and the doctor’s like, “You cannot put any pressure on it. If it bends, this nail, it’ll be like pulling a bent nail out of wood. You’ll ruin your hand.” I went straight back into the action scenes.’
Hanuman and Hijra
Monkey Man is not only here to entertain, but it also has the capacity to educate about Hindu and Indian mythology and culture.
The film’s title refers both to Patel’s character’s tendency to fight in a monkey mask and to Hanuman, a deity in Hinduism who is half-monkey, half-man.
Hanuman features in epic poem the Ramayana and traditionally embodies strength, courage and nobility, and is revered by Patel’s anonymous ‘Kid’ character for these qualities.
Patel himself was inspired by the tale thanks to a necklace his father wore that depicted a monkey holding up a mountain, and his grandfather regaling him with the legend.
Patel also saw in Hanuman a hero who had lost faith in himself, which he thought was ‘a great arc for a character and a superhero that didn’t quite have control of himself and his abilities at the beginning’.
Monkey Man also features Hijra in a prominent role, an officially recognised but ostracised third gender in the Indian subcontinent made up of trans women, intersex and gender nonconforming people.
Patel referred to working with them as his favourite memory of filming the movie, with the majority not being actors.
‘They brought so much joy and truth to the set,’ he recalled on Reddit.
Monkey Man is out in cinemas on Friday, April 5.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Shakira is such a meme as she blends in with commuters on rare subway trip
MORE : Billie Eilish takes aim at ‘frustrating’ and ‘wasteful’ chart-topping artists
MORE : Diddy remains in high spirits after FBI ransacked his mansions in sex trafficking probe
