Dev Patel Says ‘Monkey Man’ Shoot Faced ‘Absolute Catastrophe’: Funding Nearly Pulled, Locations Lost, Broken Cameras and a ‘Basically Dead’ Movie
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Dev Patel makes his feature directorial debut with the upcoming action movie “Monkey Man,” which blew the roof off SXSW earlier this month and earned strong reviews, but getting the film made was no walk in the park.
During a Reddit AMA ahead of the film’s April theatrical release, Patel told fans that directing, acting in and producing “Monkey Man” was “the most demanding thing I’ve ever done in my life” because “everyday we faced absolute catastrophe.” “I begged our financier not to shut us down a few weeks before principal photography,” Patel wrote. “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.” “All of the locations we prepped for months at — we lost day of — so we had to adapt last minute,” he continued. “The borders closed also, so I couldn’t bring in lots of supporting characters.
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