Back in 2014, Jordan Peele shocked the entertainment world with a revelation: while he had spent over a decade of his career dedicated to comedy, he let it be known that his true goal was to make horror movies. Since then, Peele has become one of the world’s most respected genre filmmakers, crafting a string of hits with Get Out, Us, and Nope. What he has done is remarkable – and it has inspired major ambition in Dev Patel, who wants to follow in Peele’s footsteps by becoming known as an acclaimed action director.
The two filmmakers have become linked thanks to Monkey Man – Patel’s directorial debut, which is an eye-popping and spectacular cinematic experience that impressed Peele to the extent that he got it a distribution deal with Universal Pictures. Patel isn’t yet an established name in the action genre, instead better known for his dramatic work in films like Slumdog Millionaire and The Green Knight, but he explained to me in an interview last month that he and the Nope director talked a lot about rebranding one’s career in Hollywood:
When I got the call that Jordan had seen [Monkey Man] three times, I nearly fell off my chair. And we got on this Zoom call, and I was in the countryside in England, and I thought the film had been shelved and I was really sad and shooting this low budget film. And we spoke for ages and that was one of the big things: the idea of being able to not be confined to a box and Jordan stepping out of his comedy roots and becoming this kind of huge cinematic auteur in a way.
In Monkey Man, Dev Patel stars as a protagonist who has committed his entire life to a mission of revenge – hoping to confront and kill the men who had a hand in the murder of his mother when he was a child. Wearing a monkey mask and participating in rigged underground fights, he gets an in into a restaurant/club where his targets regularly take refuge, and after getting a job and getting to know the lay of the land, he executes his grand plan.
The movie has its funny and emotional moments, but mostly Monkey Man is a teeth-grittingly intense feature (that was teeth-grittingly intense to make), and that’s the principal thing that Dev Patel wants to further bring to the world as he continues working behind the camera. He wants to still be known as the performer we know, but he has a vision for what he wants to do as an action director. He continued,
For me, I want to still be able to be the Dev that people know and the one that I am and can relate to, which is this kind of awkward outside underdog kind of dude. But when the action goes, I want to unleash so much fury and chaos.
The work speaks for itself, but Dev Patel finding a partner in Jordan Peele for the film was incredibly special for the up-and-coming filmmaker. Based on his attitude during our interview (as you can see in the video above), he still seems to be processing the awesomeness of it all. Said Patel,
He understood all of the kind of cultural touchstones and what I was trying to do. The film’s a sort of Trojan horse, and we really bonded, and he was great. He was like, ‘I hope you don't mind, I've shared it with Universal and we're gonna buy it.’ And it was one of those… you know, it's like get you're getting a dream scholarship to an Ivy League. It was amazing. It was mad.
Audiences everywhere will have a chance to soon experience Monkey Man, which earned rave responses last month when it premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. Look for it in theaters this Friday, April 5, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with Dev Patel.
For a look ahead at what else is coming to cinemas and streaming in the coming months, check out our 2024 Movie Release Calendar.
