Dev Patel on Monkey Man: ‘This film is just as chaotic as I am’

Dev Patel, it turns out, is full of darkness. Introduced to the world as a sweet, smiling kid on Skins and Slumdog Millionaire, both filmed before he turned 18, Patel is shattering preconceptions with his directorial debut, Monkey Man, a vicious revenge-thriller in which Patel’s face is constantly pummelled and painted with blood – usually belonging to his victims. In fact, Patel’s unlikely action hero is so desperate and depraved, he even uses his teeth to push a knife further into someone’s gouged neck. “My parents haven’t seen it yet,” says Patel with a laugh. “My mum’s gonna be like, ‘What the hell is going on in that brain of yours?’”

Now 33, Patel is charming and jovial when I meet him in Ham Yard Hotel a week before Monkey Man hits UK cinemas. It’s what I anticipated, given the warmth he exudes in The Green Knight, The Personal History of David Copperfield, and Lion, for which he received an Oscar nomination. That said, the London-born actor is taller and bulkier than I expected. It could just be that, after Monkey Man, I’m more aware of his physical presence. “I wanted the action and choreography to be primal and carnal,” explains Patel, who also co-wrote the script. “If you’re facing life and death, wearing handcuffs, what are you gonna do? You’re gonna bite. You’re gonna spit. You’re gonna do anything to survive. As he hones his skill, he becomes a more efficient, more stoic killer.”

Patel is referring to his bitter, bruised character Kid, a man who dons a gorilla mask and deliberately loses wrestling matches in an underground club for cash. Set in a fictional Indian city, Yatana, the grim storyline reveals that Kid is an orphan whose mother was murdered by a crooked cop, Rana (Sikandar Kher), and whose village was torched to the ground by corrupt forces. Seeking retribution, an adult Kid infiltrates a high-end brothel, King’s Club, by working as a dishwasher and navigating the corridors. The ensuing fight scenes are kinetic and grounded; bones are raucously crunched, faces are smashed beyond recognition.

“It’s like working your way up different boss levels,” says Patel. “We applied that with the caste system in this. In the King’s Club, you’ve got the poor at the bottom, in this windowless, steamed, wok-fired hellhole. As you go up, you get to the land of the Kings, and then the gods are above them in heaven.” He continues, “The film is just as chaotic as I am. I put my history into this: my culture, my reality, my influences. Everything from Bruce in Enter the Dragon to Bollywood cinema, to working with people like Danny Boyle, Garth Davis, and David Lowery.”

Early on, Patel trained with Chad Stahelski’s stunt team, and even visited Stahelski during the editing of a John Wick movie. However, Monkey Man is, by design, far nastier and less balletic than Stahelski’s franchise. Patel’s Kid is no superhero, unless you count resilience as a superstrength. In fact, Patel wrote much of the script in LA’s Koreatown. “I wanted to soak it up by osmosis,” says Patel, naming The Man from Nowhere as a favourite. “If you could only watch cinema for a year from one part of the world, I would hands down say Korea.”

Before deciding to direct Monkey Man, Patel offered the gig to Neill Blomkamp, his collaborator on the 2015 sci-fi Chappie. When Blomkamp turned down the offer due to an unfamiliarity with Indian culture, Patel felt emboldened to go behind the camera. After all, the storyline was inspired by his grandfather telling him stories about Hanuman, a Hindu deity with a monkey’s face. “You go to these gyms in India, and, even in the slums, you’ve got Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Coleman on the wall,” says Patel. “And you’ve also got Hanuman. He’s the OG out there.”

In the epic Sanskrit poem Ramayana, Hanuman leads an army to battle evil forces, and is a symbol for strength and freedom. The parallel with Monkey Man is that Kid’s quest for revenge is also a communal battle against corruption. After failing in a face-off with Rana, Kid retrains in order to rise to the top as a lethal warrior. His moves are taught to him by a group of hijras – the name applied to what’s called the third gender in Hindu culture. “He’s a lonely character who finds warmth, laughter, and philosophy with this community that’s been brushed off to the side,” says Patel. “He learns to recalibrate his trauma.”

If Kid often looks like he’s in pain, it’s somewhat because Patel was also suffering for his art. During the shoot, Patel broke several bones – including a wrist, which means numerous fights are done one-handed – and had production shut down for COVID. Financing frequently fell apart, numerous crew members left, and some footage was shot on Patel’s smartphone when cameras broke down. “I was like, ‘Are we cursed?’” says Patel. “I really thought I was going to die making this thing. Not only to be in the middle of a pandemic, but physically and mentally, what it did to me. When you’re passionate about something, it’s a blessing but also an affliction. I had to birth it.”

In 2021, Netflix brought the worldwide rights to Monkey Man for $30 million and announced a 2022 release. However, it’s now being released by Universal, not Netflix; after the streaming service dropped the film, Jordan Peele watched an early cut and brought it to Universal. During the interview, I’m not yet aware of the controversy regarding a flag being changed in between trailers: it used to be saffron, the colour of the BJP, and now it’s red. I do, though, bring up an unsubstantiated online rumour that Netflix were frightened about Monkey Man alienating their business in India.

“You know, [Netflix] is a huge streaming platform,” says Patel. “They have a mandate, and they have to do what’s right for them. They felt that, you know…” He pauses. “I don’t know why they passed on the film. But there’s nothing but love. We ended up in the right place. Stories and films, the process feels like a rubber band. It always snaps to its original intention.” I ask if further changes were made after the Universal deal. “Not really. The film kind of is the film. I got more time for the music choices. Jordan and Universal afforded me some time with the VFX. That was really helpful.”

When I ask again about what responsibilities were involved in bringing Indian and religious iconographies to a wider audience, Patel says, “I’m just exploring parts of the culture that I’m really fascinated by. It’s very reverential of the culture. Everything from the Hanuman mythology, to the use of the hijra community, or even Indian classical music, like Zakir Hussain. I put everything into it, and there’s so much love in this film.”

As for his next movie as a director, Patel is writing a period drama that sounds very much unlike Monkey Man. His recent acting choices – he was in Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar – also seem to be the polar opposite of his time starring in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel. However, Patel denies he’s attempting to blindside viewers. “I’m just trying to be true to myself as an actor,” he says. “I’m trying to surprise myself, not the public. All you can do is put your best foot forward. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you fail miserably. That’s the absolutely crippling heartache of this industry.”

Monkey Man is out in cinemas on April 5.