Dev Patel Gets Standing Ovation at World Premiere of ‘Monkey Man’

Universal‘s bender of a weekend continued past Oscars into Monday night with the enthusiastic SXSW premiere of Monkeypaw’s Dev Patel feature directorial debut, Monkey Man, which blew the roof off Austin’s Paramount Theatre.

SXSW isn’t known for giving standing ovations, but Dev Patel –the movie’s director, producer, writer and action star– got a well deserved one for his bloodied portrayal of a young man avenging his mother’s death from a crooked cop.

Jordan Peele was on hand to introduce Patel ahead of the screening.

“This is a film that simply demands to be seen in a theater with a huge rockstar audience,” said Peele who after seeing the movie, pivoted over to his theatrical output deal at Universal. Monkey Man was originally set up at Netflix, which took the film’s global for $30M. Now it has a big screen release set for April 5.

“I’ve never seen someone pour his heart, soul, body, mind and energy into a film, into a story more than this man,” exclaimed Peele about Patel.

The movie based on the mythology of Hanuman, was inspired by Patel’s love of Bruce Lee movies, Korean movies and tales his grandfather told him as a child.

Monkey Man follows one man’s quest for vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimize the poor and powerless. The India-set pic is inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage. Patel plays the Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash.

Patel shot the movie against all obstacles during Covid. He even lost his gaffer during production from a heart attack. Patel broke his foot two weeks before shooting, and during filming, broke his hand, too. “You can see in the film, there’s a wrap on my hand,” said Patel indicating the cameo of his injured hand. He even did a kitchen fight scene, one-handed.