Dev Patel Broke His Hand and Toes, Tore Shoulder During Monkey Man; Gets Standing Ovation at SXSW 2024

Dev Patel is all set to make his directorial debut with Monkey Man and it has not been an easy journey. The actor, who was seen in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, turned director for this indie film. Dev held the world premiere of Monkey Man at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and it received positive responses. The film got a grand standing ovation as well. Following the screening, Dev sat down for a Q&A session where he shared anecdotes about the film. During the chat, he revealed he broke a number of bones while making the film.

“I broke my foot two weeks before [the] shoot, my toes and stuff. That was painful. Then tore my shoulder. And then in the middle of that bathroom fight, day two, I broke my hand. That was like, ‘Okay, here we go again. Production is going to go down.’ I can’t wear a cast on this movie. We don’t have the budget to paint this out [digitally]. We had this covid protocol and we had this cheap medical jet that wouldn’t break the bubble,” he said, as reported by Slash Film.

“I finished shooting that whole night and my hand was like an elephant. You can see it in the film. There’s some wrap sometimes — that’s from the surgery. We got on a plane, they put a screw in, and the doctor is like, ‘You cannot put any pressure on it because if it bends this nail, it’ll be like pulling a bent nail out of wood. You’ll just ruin your hand.’ I was like, ‘Got it. Copy.’ Went straight back into the action. All of the [choreogrophy] had to change. If you see the kitchen fight, I was way better. I’m doing it one-handed now. It was crazy,” he added.

What is Monkey Man?

Directed by and starring Dev Patel, Monkey Man is inspired by the legend of Hanuman. The film stars Dev in the lead, playing an anonymous character who makes ends meet by fighting in an underground club wearing a gorilla mask. He gets beaten black and blue by popular fighters in return of money. As per the official synopsis, his life changes when he discovers a way to infiltrate the city’s sinister elite’s enclave. “As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him,” the synopsis read.

Monkey Man is set to release in April. The India release date is yet to be announced.