Dev Patel broke his hand while filming the action thriller Monkey Man

After many setbacks, Dev Patel made his debut as a director Monkey man It premiered at the SXSW Film Festival to rapturous applause from the Austin audience.

Patel stars in the film that follows an underground fighter in Mumbai who embarks on a revenge campaign against his city’s corrupt elites, who are responsible for his mother’s murder. The film it has been compared to John WickInspired by the legend of Hanuman. For his part, Patel said he was inspired Raid And classic Bruce Lee movies.

Initially, the plan was for Patel to co-write the script, with the production finding someone else to direct. “I originally took it to Neill Blomkamp,” said Patel, who worked with the director and screenwriter. Monkey man The sci-fi film stars Sharlto Copley Chubby. “I was talking to Neil, and he said, ‘Man, I thought you should do this. You know every corner of it.’ And I said, ‘I can’t do it.’ And he says, ‘You can.’” I was reluctantly pushed into the driver’s seat.

During a Q&A that followed the presentation, Patel detailed an extensive list of delays, saying, “We’ve had disaster every day.” This started with the Covid pandemic halting filming, with production having to move from India to Indonesia. The pandemic later closed borders, leaving them scrambling to find cast and crew. The stuntmen were found on YouTube, while the crew members filled in as extras. “Every person you see in this is an accountant or a tailor,” Patel said.

Cinematographer Sharon Meir, known for his work injury, was dealing with faulty camera equipment and had to improvise, and Patel recalls that when a crane broke they hung a camera from a swinging rope. Certain scenes were filmed on Patel’s personal cell phone, including a car accident scene involving a tuk-tuk.

Production was also a traumatic experience. Patel broke his toes two weeks before production, later tore his shoulder while filming a fight scene, and suffered an eye infection after a scene left him crawling on the bathroom floor.

In one of the most horrific stories Patel has ever told (among a series of horrific stories), the British actor broke his hand on the second day of filming. “I was thinking, ‘Here we go again, production is going to go down.’ “I was online because I couldn’t wear the cast for a long time because we didn’t have the budget to paint it,” the director said.

He finished filming that night (“My hand was like an elephant’s hand”) and boarded a plane, then had a nail surgically inserted into his hand. The doctor said: You can’t put pressure on him. It will ruin your hand. I said, ‘Got it, copy’ and went straight back into the action scene.” The fight choreography was changed so that it could be performed with one hand.

And after all that, Monkey man It was languishing in post-production without solid distribution when Universal acquired the film for theatrical release at the request of director Jordan Peele. At the time, insiders said Bale had the chance to see the film, and was so impressed by Patel’s vision that he thought it deserved a theatrical release.

“Jordan finally came in and dusted it off and put it on the back burner and gave us this opportunity,” Patel said.

Bill added, “No one put more of their soul, energy, mind and body into a movie than this man. And he did it for the enjoyment of this movie.”

Monkey man It will hit theaters on April 5.