The first trailer for Monkey Man, directed by Dev Patel, has been released by Universal Pictures. The movie is scheduled to open in theaters on April 5.
With Universal Pictures releasing the action-packed revenge story “Monkey Man” in theaters on April 5, Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel will be directing his first feature film. Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions is a co-producer of the film.
Apart from directing the film and playing the lead role, Patel co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Angunawela and John Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), based on an original story. Veteran of the business Brahim Chab, best known for his work in Bollywood (Ganapath, Ek Tha Tiger) and direct-to-video action (Ninja: Shadow of a Tear), is responsible for the combat choreography.
Dev Patel & Monkey Man:
The film is heavily inspired form Hindu mythology, particularly the deity Hanuman, who is described as half man, half monkey.
According to the first trailer of the movie on YouTube, Patel’s character is out to get revenge for the death of his mother. Patel plays “an unlikely hero who emerges from prison to take on a world tangled in corporate greed and eroding spiritual values.”
The violent action shown in the trailer looks like it belongs to a “John Wick” film. In order to get brutal revenge, Patel’s character stabs, bludgeons, and shoots his way through assailants. He even violently stabs a man in the neck at one point while holding a knife between his teeth.
Dev Patel initially revealed Monkey Man in 2018. According to reports in 2021, Netflix paid $30 million to acquire the film’s worldwide rights, with an initial release date scheduled for 2022.
However, as the new trailer reveals, Jordan Peele and his production firm Monkeypaw were involved in the film when Universal Pictures eventually purchased the rights. Interestingly, Deadline revealed that Peele’s decision to go from Netflix to Universal came about after he saw the film and thought it was good enough for a theatrical release.
An interesting detail about Patel that helps explain why this project is a perfect fit for him is this: As a youth, he participated in numerous international competitions and won a bronze medal in the 2004 Action International Martial Arts Association World Championships. He holds a black belt in Taekwondo.
Since his dramatic abilities are so excellent, he hasn’t really needed to showcase his acting prowess. However, it’s about time he embarks on his action star arc, and it’s even more awesome that he’s in charge of the camera for this one.
The cast includes Sharlto Copley, Sobhita Dhulipala, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar ,Adithi Kalkunte, Sikandar Kher and Makarand Deshpande.
Producers are Patel, Peele, Jomon Thomas, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christine Haebler and Anjay Nagpal.
Executive Producers are Jonathan Fuhrman, Natalya Pavchinskya, Aaron L. Gilbert, Andria Spring, Alison-Jane Roney and Steven Thibault.
The movie is a Bron Studios production, a Thunder Road film, a Monkeypaw production, a Minor Realm/S’Ya Concept production, in association with WME Independent and Creative Wealth Media.
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