Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel is making his directorial debut with the action-packed revenge tale “Monkey Man,” which is being theatrically released by Universal Pictures on April 5. Jordan Peele produces the movie through his Monkeypaw Productions, and the film got its first trailer Friday morning.
Patel stars in the movie as 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,” according to the release. The film is inspired by the legend of Hanuman, a deity in Hinduism.
The logline says, “After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.”
The trailer showcases brutal action ripped straight out of a “John Wick” movie. Patel’s character sets out on a quest of bloody revenge as he shoots, stabs and bludgeons his way through gunmen. At one point, he brutally stabs a man through the neck while clutching a knife between his teeth.
Patel directs “Monkey Man” from his original story and his screenplay with Paul Angunawela and John Collee. It was originally set at Netflix, but is now being theatrically released through Monkeypaw’s film deal with Universal.
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, Steven Thibault and Adam Somer. Universal Pictures presents 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.
Watch the trailer below.
