- Written by Leah Collins
- bbc news beat
Dev Patel is done playing goofy characters and comedy sidekicks.
Dev creates a British-Asian action hero in his new film Monkey Man, which he stars in, directed and produced.
But he doesn't want that compared to James Bond.
“As a big fan of the genre, I was very disappointed not to be able to represent it,” the actor, known for his roles in Lion and Slumdog Millionaire, told BBC Asia Network's Nikita Kanda.
He says he has flown relatable characters in action movies from Hollywood to Hong Kong to Bollywood.
“There was nothing in between that expressed the duality of my being, my identity, my culture,” says Dev, who is of Gujarati Indian descent and grew up in London.
“I just wanted to inject everything that I ran away from as a child.”
“Monkey Man” is an action thriller in which an anonymous protagonist called “Kid” hunts down the group responsible for his mother’s death.
Dev has been working on the script for 12 years, but “I'm not counting,” he says, adding that his life has been taken over and he's become “an obsessed person.”
He described the production as a “Trojan horse”, saying that although it is ostensibly an action movie, it “has a lot to say”.
“This film has real political and social resonance. It's a revenge film about faith and how it can be the most elegant weapon.”
One thing it's not meant to be is James Bond.
“I don't want to be James Bond. I want to be Monkey Man,” Dev says.
Ever since Daniel Craig retired from the role of Bond in 2021, there has been constant speculation about who will replace him, with some wondering if it's time for a non-white actor to play the British spy.
However, Dev said of Monkey Man, “We wanted to create our own story and our own fresh world.”
“I wanted to broaden my horizons so I wasn’t competing for the same roles.”
He also hopes casting British Asians in action films will open the door to more diversity in roles.
“When I started writing this, the only roles I was being offered were either the comedy sidekick or the guy who hacks the system. [computer] It’s a mainframe for big, cool men,” says the developer.
He began his career playing the hapless Anwar in Channel 4's teen drama Skins, before starring in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire.
It wasn't until he played Saroo in 2016's Oscar-nominated film Lion that he felt he could break away from these stereotypes.
“That movie was the first time I really put my heart and soul into it in front of the camera,” he says.
“It really changed my career and people started looking at me differently than that goofy, awkward guy or slumdog.” [Millionaire] And skins. ”
Monkey Man was Dev's directorial debut and the first time he was not only in front of the camera but also behind it.
“It was a very chaotic process,” he says, adding that he initially only planned to be a lead actor.
“But I just wanted to make a movie that a 14-year-old young developer would be proud of and excited to see,” he says.
“And we stopped at nothing to do that.”
This is no exaggeration: filming was halted due to the pandemic, and he says, “I broke my hand in the first action scene.”
“Everything that could go wrong went wrong for me.”
The Monkey Man didn't seem to do much damage, as it garnered a series of positive reviews and a standing ovation at an early screening at SXSW ahead of Friday's UK release.
“I was tired of seeing the same faces and the same series rehashed,” Dev says.
“This is original, it’s our culture, it’s vibrant, and we hope people will come out and see it and support it.”
Check out the full developer interview with Nikita Kanda. YouTube Or please ask me again bbc sound.
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