The actor writes, directs and stars in the new action film \u2013\u00a0which was sometimes quite a gruelling experience. <\/p>
Dev Patel has revealed that he turned down dream acting roles in order to complete his new film Monkey Man<\/a> \u2013 which arrives in UK cinemas this Friday.<\/p>\n Patel wrote, directed and stars in the action thriller, which follows an underground fighter named Kid as he embarks on a hyper-violent revenge mission in the fictional Indian city of Yatana.<\/p>\n Making the film was a gruelling process both during and after production, with Patel not only turning down other work but also battling through a number of injuries and dealing with distribution complications to get the film ready for release.<\/p>\n That\u2019s something that made the blistering reception at last months SXSW festival all the more rewarding, as Patel explained in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/p> \u201cI just feel like\u2026 there was a point where I was turning down work that was stuff that I dreamt of doing as an actor, like my whole career,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I was just like, \u2018God, I\u2019m in this dark edit hole right now editing this movie.\u2019 And, like, at one point, that film got dropped\u2026 so it was, it was really pretty grim at moments.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of the reception, he added: \u201cSo to come into this kind of\u2026 I don\u2019t know, it was over 1200 people [at the premiere] like there was queue spanning three blocks. And I was so nervous going into that, I was just a ball of nerves.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when it played the way it played, and we won the Audience Award, I mean, it was\u2026 yeah, it was a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n As for whether the experience has whetted his appetite to return to the director\u2019s chair again anytime soon or if he\u2019ll be looking to go back to acting in other people\u2019s films, Patel said: \u201cI\u2019m just hungry to tell stories\u2026 so whatever capacity that is. I know it sounds cliche!<\/p>\n Producer Jordan Peele \u2013 who has had significant success as the director of Get Out, Us and Nope \u2013 then joked: \u201cWhat if your next director is worse than you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to get me in trouble, dude!\u201d Patel responded.<\/p>\n\n