The 2024 SXSW Conference & Festivals was the first stop for Monkey Man, Dev Patel's action-packed directorial debut. Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, the film follows an anonymous young man on a quest for vengeance and an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who wronged him.
The World Premiere brought the film's cast and producer Jordan Peele, founder of Monkeypaw Productions, to Austin, TX for interviews on the SXSW Conference stage, the Film & TV Festival Red Carpet, and in the SX Studio.
Conference
In an in depth conversation with Jacqueline Coley, Editor at Rotten Tomatoes, Patel peels back the layers of mishaps and triumphs it took to secure a major theatrical release. The Featured Session offered insights into his cultural inspirations, real-world experiences, and love for the action-thriller genre that brought him to this moment in his career.
"I love these movies that have training montages and a Mr. Miyagi type character. And I was like, I want to make my Mr. Miyagi a hijra, a soulful hijra that has this duality to their identity. And I'm gonna pull from parts of the mythology and the culture." – Dev Patel, Monkey Man Actor/Director/Producer/Writer
