Dev Patel’s Monkey Man has become the talk of the film industry and it is for good reason. The film has been getting a lot of praise from viewers and the reviews it has gotten are extremely impressive. This is no small feat considering how it is the actor’s first directional project, following the story of a man who has become hungry for revenge after being wronged his entire life.
With it being his first time heading a project, it is safe to say that Patel was passionate about making sure he got everything right. During a recent interview, he revealed what the process of filming was like for him, and it was not as fun as many would think.
Filming Monkey Man Was Bittersweet For Dev Patel
Recently, Dev Patel gave an interview with Access Hollywood where he talked about all of the aspects of making Monkey Man, both as an actor and director. He started by talking about the standing ovation he got at South by Southwest Film Festival. The actor revealed that the praise he got at that moment made all of the hardship he had to go through while filming worth it.
He revealed that he was under immense psychological pressure from all sides. On top of being the director, which is a stressful job on its own, he was playing the protagonist in a violent action film. The project ended up being immensely draining for him physically as well.
“It was very overwhelming, like this film. I’ve been bruised and battered, and emotionally torn up by it, and I’ve had to say goodbye to some of the most amazing opportunities as an actor to kind of stick with this, and birth this little gremlin of a movie.” He said.
He also revealed that he had to let go of some very significant opportunities that could have furthered his acting career, just so that Monkey Man could have all of his focus.
Dev Patel Was Left Shattered By The End Of Filming
Dev Patel then went into detail about the physical injuries he sustained during one of his rare action projects. Addressing the reports that he had broken his arm early into filming, the actor revealed that there was more to the story. Before shooting had even begun, the actor had broken multiple toes in one of his legs after his foot came under something during a practice session for stunts.
“It started with my – I got a bunch of broken toes. I got my foot stamped on in a stunt session. And that was messed up for two weeks before the shoot.” He went on, “Then, the first fight scene we had, by accident, my co-star snapped my hand. They call it a boxers’ fracture.” said Dev Patel about fteh injuries he sustained during filming.
While this would have been concerning enough when shooting an action film, something much worse followed. Patel revealed that during the first sequence in a movie full of them, his co-star ended up fracturing his hand.
After visiting the doctor, the actor was told not to put any pressure on it and to rest, rather than film an action movie. Patel immediately went back to shooting the movie and made changed to the action sequences to make sure his character only used one hand.
Monkey Man is out in theaters now.
