Everything That Went Wrong During Monkey Man’s Cursed Shoot

The shoot for Dev Patel’s Monkey Man was truly cursed, with a number of things going wrong throughout the production. Releasing on April 5, 2024, this action thriller follows a man known as “Kid” who makes a living by engaging in anonymous underground fights donning a monkey mask. One day, he infiltrates the upper echelon of society to find those who ruined his life and take revenge. Monkey Man has received rave reviews, with an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is also performing excellently at the box office, having recovered its $10 million budget in its opening weekend alone.

However, making it was anything but easy. The film was written, directed, and co-produced by Dev Patel who also stars as Kid. Directing one’s first movie is always challenging, and action movies in particular require balancing a number of moving pieces to pull off. However, in Dev Patel’s own words, while shooting for this film, “Just everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.” Here’s a look at everything that went wrong in Monkey Man’s cursed shoot, from Covid-19 complications to broken bones.

1

Dev Patel And His Crew Couldn’t Shoot in India

The Covid-19 Pandemic Ruined 4-5 Months of Pre-Production

Dev Patel and his crew had prepared for 4-5 months to shoot in Mumbai, in Asia’s biggest slum, Dharavi. This would have been a full-circle moment with his early film Slumdog Millionaire, which was also set in Dharavi. More importantly, it was perfect for what Patel and his crew had meticulously planned for, with shot lists and location scouts. Unfortunately, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not possible to shoot in India, certainly not on location in a big, densely populated city like Mumbai. They had to quickly pivot and switch locations.

Patel and his crew of 350-400 people then moved the shoot to Indonesia, where Patel had never been before. They lived on an island there for nine months, with everyone living in one hotel, forming a Covid-19 bubble. No one could leave and no one new could easily come in. The whole crew were isolated together for that entire time. Even sourcing or replacing equipment was a tremendous challenge, given the miniscule budget.

2

Monkey Man Lost Crew Members

Due To The Last-Minute Location Change

The Monkey Man production lost its production designer and the John Wick stunt team as a result of the last-minute location change. This was a real shame, given the many ways Monkey Man is exactly like John Wick and the fact that Monkey Man even has a great John Wick Easter egg. Having the same stunt team as John Wick would have been perfect to recreate the same kind of action and fight choreography. Dev Patel instead turned to YouTube to find and recruit Brahim Chab, who also served as a stunt coordinator in the 2017 action thriller The Foreigner.

3

One of Monkey Man’s Gaffers Died In The Middle Of Shooting

He Tragically Suffered A Heart Attack

If a last-minute change of location and losing multiple crew members weren’t enough, Monkey Man also tragically lost another crew member during production. The gaffer – or chief lighting technician – suffered a fatal heart attack. Aside from dealing with this painful loss, the crew had to find a replacement as soon as possible as the gaffer is an integral part of any movie shoot. This was no easy task amid Covid-19 restrictions, quarantines, and people’s limited mobility. Throughout the production, Patel had to overcome such seemingly unsurmountable obstacles at every level.

4

Dev Patel Broke His Toes

He Broke It Just 2 Weeks Before Shooting Began

Dev Patel was giving his everything to the fight choreography, learning new moves and mastering the routines. However, just two weeks before shooting started, during fight rehearsals and training, someone stamped on Patel’s foot and broke his toes. With a swollen foot, Patel had to cut open his shoes to carry on as he didn’t have the budget to stop shooting, and he needed to maintain the Covid-19 bubble at all costs. It is an absolute marvel how much pain Patel endured to realize his dream of making this film the way he wanted to.

5

Dev Patel Broke His Hand

He Broke It During The Very First Fight Scene He Shot

Dev Patel broke his hand during the very first fight scene he shot, but was afraid of seeking medical assistance for fear it would disrupt the production. Wearing a cast posed a significant obstacle, as it would have required reshooting the entire film or using expensive digital effects to conceal it. Determined to keep the setback under wraps, Patel opted to continue filming despite the increasing discomfort. By the end of the day, his hand looked like an elephant’s foot. Subsequently, Patel arranged for a private jet to transport him to a doctor in Jakarta, who set his injured wrist.

The doctor put a screw in it and warned that if he put more than 2 pounds of pressure on the screw, it would bend and be impossible to remove, “like pulling a bent nail out of wood.” Nonetheless, Patel remained undeterred in realizing his vision for the adrenaline-fueled action film. Returning to the set the following day, he threw himself into scenes with gusto, even bouncing off a window. Once filming wrapped and the revelation of his injury was safe, Patel shared the X-ray of his mangled hand, which made its way onto T-shirts for the production team.

6

Monkey Man’s Financier Went Bankrupt

The Production Couldn’t Afford Many Basic Necessities

Dev Patel one day turned up on set and learned from his production designer that their financier was going bankrupt: the production was simply out of money. For a VIP room set they had built, none of the tables had any tops on them, so no one could put any glasses on the tables. For the first two days of shooting the sequence, the camera crew only shot the cast from the shoulders up. The Monkey Man production also ran out of sugar glass, a basic requirement to shoot action scenes involving glass breaking.

For another fight scene, the production had only three breakaway wooden tables. So they would shoot an intense action take, cut, and then look for the pieces of broken wood to glue together for the next take. For the scene involving the rickshaw crash, Patel also couldn’t source a camera in time and the sun was rising for the nighttime shoot, so he taped his iPhone to the rickshaw and framed the shot. The shot capturing the trinket hanging from the mirror and shaking in the rickshaw was taken on his iPhone. He also had to get creative, using a bathtub in place of a water tank, with Patel wearing his costume from the waist up and his swim trunks underneath.

7

Dev Patel Caught an Eye Infection

From Crawling in a Dirty Bathroom

At one point, Dev Patel contracted a deadly eye infection from crawling in dirty stagnant water in a bathroom for five days. This was during the first major fight scene with the antagonist Rana (Sikandar Kher) in the Kings Club bathroom, which included an exploding aquarium. With the lack of space in the bathroom, Patel had to crawl in the dirty water that the entire cast walked through all day with their shoes and boots, getting an eye infection from having the dirty water splashed in his face for hours at a time. Incidentally, this was also the scene during which he broke his hand.

8

Dev Patel Tore His Shoulder

That Makes Three Major Injuries

Dev Patel also tore his shoulder, bringing the total to three major injuries during production. Between dealing with ever-changing Covid-19 restrictions, the loss of crew members, and a shrinking budget, Patel also braved these multiple injuries and still continued to perform high-octane fight sequences at a rapid intensity. On top of it all, he directed, produced, and starred in the film, miraculously pulling it all off. He knew that the whole production was depending on him and if he succumbed to the injuries, Monkey Man wouldn’t exist. Luckily, he soldiered through it to deliver an incredible directorial debut.

Source: BBC Radio 1