The year 2024 may be one of those years when the film industry is offering us some of the most hyped and exciting films in a while. But the upcoming Monkey Man, which stars Oscar Award-nominated actor Dev Patel, has been by far one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year.
In fact, since the trailer of the star’s upcoming directorial debut dropped, fans have been comparing the movie to that of films from the John Wick franchise, which in itself is a huge achievement.
But reaching this milestone was not an easy task by a very long shot, especially when the film was on the brink of being thrown into the trashcan. Recently, Patel revealed that the producers of the film were almost pulling out at the last second, which made him improvise and use crew members as extras while reusing several props on set.
Dev Patel Reveals How Monkey Man Was On The Verge Of Shutting Down Production
While making a film has never been an easy task in the history of cinema, not many people know about the struggles that the cast and crew have to go through to make the filmmaker’s vision come to life, which in Dev Patel‘s case, was none other than his upcoming Moneky Man.
Making his directorial debut in this film was a task that put the star through the wringer, and towards the end, the film was on the verge of becoming non-existent since the producers were about to pull out from the project.
In a recent Reddit AMA on the r/movies subreddit, the Slumdog Millionaire star answered some of the most burning questions that the public had about his experience making his upcoming action/thriller.
Here, he also revealed how despite the film being received so well in its SXSW Film Festival release, there were desperate times when the production of the film was almost stopped during the shoot’s last stretch.
Since this was during the height of the pandemic, cross-border travel was halted, which meant extra actors couldn’t reach the sets. Therefore, Patel had to improvise and employ the help of the crew, such as the lighting team, accounting team, and others, to work as extras on set. He said:
“I begged our financier not to shut us down a few weeks before principal photography, 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 grueling nine months of absolute joy and utter chaos. The borders closed also, so I couldn’t bring in lots of supporting characters. I ended up having to put every tailor, lighting guy, accountant, etc. in front of the camera.”
Despite all these hardships, the project persevered through, and when the film managed to impress film producer Jordan Peele, he did everything in his power to get this movie a cinematic release.
What Is Moneky Man About?
Since the star isn’t known for being a big name in the action genre of films, the upcoming Monkey Man has managed to blow everybody away in terms of the star’s performance and execution of the story.
The film tells the tale of a young man who lives a hard life as an underground street fighter in the city of Mumbai, where surviving is a part of everyday life. But his main goal is to infiltrate the coven of elites of the city, which he ultimately manages to do. Now, he lets years of rage and suffering boil over as he does anything he can to take revenge on the man who destroyed his life in the past.
Monkey Man, in cinemas on April 5, 2024.
