Academy Award nominee Dev Patel’s feature directorial debut Monkey Man will make its streaming debut on Peacock June 14, Deadline reported.
The movie will be on the platform after it has its run in cinemas through Universal Pictures. It grossed more than $34 million globally. The film premiered at South by Southwest with critical acclaim. It currently has an 88% Tomatometer and an 84% audience score.
Monkey Man is inspired by Hanuman who is also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali and Anjaneya, a Hindu deity revered as divine and was Rama’s devoted companion. In the Shaiva tradition, which worships Shiva, one of the principal Hindu deities, as its Supreme Being. In the Vaishnava tradition, Hanuman is the son and incarnation of Vayu, the Hindu god of the winds and the gods’ divine messenger.
The Monkey on Peacock
The revenge film also stars Patel, a no-name man who earns a a living through fighting in underground rings. When he rises up the food chain, he’s able to infiltrate the world of the powerful and corrupt elite. He then set off a campaign of vengeance to settle scores with the men responsible for taking everything from him when he was a child. As he goes on a rampage, an unforeseen hero is born.
Patel developed the Monkey Man story and wrote the script with Paul Angunawela and John Collee. Sharlto Copley, Sobhita Dhulipala, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher and Pitobash Tripathi also star in the film. The movie was supposed to shoot on location in India early in 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the production to be placed on hold. Instead, production moved to Indonesia in 2021.
Jordan Peele also produced the movie alongside Jomon Thomas, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christine Haebler, Sam Sahni and Anjay Nagpal. Jason Cloth, Suraj Maraboyina, Adam Somer, Aaron L. Gilbert, Andria Spring, Alison-Jane Roney, Steven Thibault, Jonathan Fuhrman and Natalya Pavchinskaya served as executive producers.
The movie was originally meant to be released straight to Netflix until Peele saw the film and felt that it would benefit more for a cinematic release. He then acquired it from the streaming platform through his — completely coincidental — Monkeypaw Production with its Universal Pictures distribution deal.
Patel was also in Wes Anderson’s Academy Award-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar with Benedict Cumberbatch. He will next be seen in the upcoming horror feature from Bryn Chainey, Rabbit Trap, currently in post-production. The filmmaker-actor also has a feature in pre-production romance Wicker from Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson with Oscar winner Olivia Colman. Last year, Patel was also in another of Anderson’s Roald Dahl story short adaptation Poison.
Dev Patel 101
Before Monkey Man, his acting credits include starring in A24’s The Green Knight as Gawain with Alicia Vikander and Joel Edgerton. Patel earned his Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in the 2016 film Lion, which also starred Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara.
Patel broke into the movies with Danny Boyle’s 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. Before that, he starred in the British drama series Skins, which ran for seven seasons from 2017 to 2013. His martial arts background came in handy when he was starred as Prince Zuko in the much-maligned M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 live-action adaptation The Last Airbender.
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