Interview with “Monkey Man” Actor/Producer/Writer/Director, Dev Patel

Full transcript of Interview with “Monkey Man” Actor/Producer/Writer/Director, Dev Patel.

0:00KT: Hey, friends and lovers, KT here. I know it says Dev Patel, so we will get to it, um, in a second, but I just wanted to put a trigger warning: Monkey Man, obviously touches all of the delicious notes of action, but it also is very ambitious. Um, and covers themes such as sexual assault, um, violence of women, um, and even in our interview, Dev mentioned the Nirbhaya case.

0:28KT: I will put resources, um, for India, Australia, UK, and the US. But also make sure you listen with care. This film was made with a lot of love and you can tell there was a lot of care, especially in regards to women as well as the third gender community as well. So enjoy, enjoy Monkey Man when it gets into Australian cinemas, April 4th. Dev Patel, KT. Thank you so much. And welcome to the For Your Reference podcast.

1:08Dev: Hey KT, thanks for having me.

1:08KT: We're going to get into the salacious, delicious world of Monkey Man. But before we do that, I just want to say, congratulations. You did the damn thing.

1:19Dev: Oh man. You're awesome. You. I kind of did, didn't I? Yeah. Well, thank you.

1:25KT: Because whether it's South by Southwest or even just hearing you talking about the making of Monkey Man, it was very emotional and it was a very, it's so beautiful hearing you speak about it. And I want to start off with the importance of storytelling and telling our own stories.

1:42KT: I'm like Pacific Brown, but we're collective Brown.

1:45Dev: Yeah, yeah,

1:46KT: And in, in many facets, um, independent filmmaking, I think. For a lot of us that grow up in Western countries, it's that push and pull of how much can I be? How much of all of me can I be? And I would love to hear your journey, I guess, through acting and now behind the lens being able to tell the stories you want to

2:06Dev: Thank you. What a beautiful, and I wish I had a recording of you for my morning alarm. You did the damn thing, because that's most, uh, that's the best thing to feel. But yeah, you know, is I've shoved a lot in there. And it's from someone feeling so unworthy in a lot of his life and feeling like didn't know what side of identity, you know, he could really own. Uh, to coming to a place where I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna double down, I'm gonna triple thing and I'm going so far, all of the, the, the vibrancy and the juxtapositions and all the into this thing, you know, cause that is me. But, you know, I'm going to, it comes from being a huge fan of the action genre and wanting more, wanting representation, wanting like myself to exist in that. I got into cinema watching Bruce, you know, I was a man with the color skin as me, super charismatic, from a young child, I bought my first rubber nunchucks. That was it for me, you know, and um, I, I hope that films like this, filmmakers get an opportunity to tell, express their cultures, their identities, their, their, their truths, their philosophies, you know, their mythologies. And, know, the action genre can hold it. We want that as action fans. We want films that are more like, back it up on me. I can take it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

3:32KT: Absolutely. Um, it's like, you see me now you're going to feel me like I'm going to give you every part of me and absolutely loved it.

3:47Dev: that.

3:47KT: Um, in cinema, in cinema that we, you know, we talk about the male gaze, the female gaze and Monkey Man is interwoven in only a way I can describe as the Dev Gaze, in that it's multidimensional, cross-eyed, interdisciplinary. You're going to take these compliments. I'm just going to, um, because culturally, whether we're talking about class or caste.

4:15KT: or even women, the rights of women, the lack of rights of women, and how a lot of ancient cultures had more than two genders and political and religious like tensions as well. You were able to fit that in. And I felt that on levels in ways that we're not seeing. And I don't think a lot of people would expect.

4:33KT: in action as well. But also for me, it felt non negotiable. Like it felt as important to the action to me.

4:40Dev: Where have you been all my life? You're speaking about this film better than I am. We need you on the campaign. Um, wow. Damn. Yes. Like, you know, the film was born, you know, you know, I guess from a rage of, being in India during a really trying time during the Nirbhaya case, you know, a woman that got gang raped and horribly killed and, and, you know, this kind of abuse of women and violence, you know, kind of a global thing, doesn't just happen. Uh, and then when, you know, the first kind of machination of this film, I wanted to explore, it's a revenge film about faith and how it can and manipulated and you can mobilise a mass through this concept of, you know, what, what team are you, you know, this is our land. No, is playing out in the world, how faith can also a beautiful teacher to an uneducated child in a forest. The iconographies can instill moral values, right and wrong and standing up for the little guy and all sorts of things. Um, and you know, for me in the mythology of Hanuman, I saw him as an outsider, as someone that had lost courage and faith in himself. He forgot who and it took other outsiders like himself build them up to make him realize that the scars he has on his hands, inside his body, you know, those scars are, are kind of, um, they are, not just, that's triumph. You know, you, he overcame those.

6:16KT: Can we hear that again for the people in the back, Dev?

6:21Dev: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is, it's, you know, it's, it's, you know, there's a Indian philosophical quote in the movie, the pain will leave you once it's finished teaching you. And that was kind of the motto of, and, you know, in terms of the hijra community, the third gender, them to be expressed and have bombastic moment in this. And it brings a roof down in one, one moment in the movie. Uh, it struck me when you at how religion is being used today, and it can become very, I've been to these India and seen these carvings, hyper sexual and spirited ahead of their time. And, you know, the idea of this, this God, Ardhanari God being half male, destruction, devotion, all of coincide within, I thought that's just amazing lore. Yeah. Yeah,

7:15KT: I'm so sorry, but I, I, I just, I'm wrapping up and I want to thank you so much for your time.

7:20KT: My questions are afforded because it's what you offered in the film. I think you need to know that. And if I can very quickly just say what film would you recommend as a double feature? Um,

7:31Dev: Double feature will be, I Saw the Devil.

7:32KT: Awesome.

7:34Dev: Love it. Yeah.

7:36KT: We're slashing everyone. It's great.

7:37KT: Thank you so much, Dev. Thank you. Thank you. See you. Thanks for that. Yes.