After starring in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire several years ago, actor Dev Patel went on to star in some prolific projects like Aaron Sorkin’s short-lived HBO series, The Newsroom and films like The Last Airbender, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (and its sequel).
After starring in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire several years ago, actor Dev Patel went on to star in some prolific projects like Aaron Sorkin’s short-lived HBO series, The Newsroom and films like The Last Airbender, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (and its sequel).
Having found moderate critical success with The Man Who Knew Infinity in which he starred alongside Jeremy Irons last year, Patel is finally on his way to potential Oscar glory with his upcoming film called Lion.
Based on Saroo Brierley’s memoir A Long Way Home, it features Dev Patel in the role of Saroo Brierley with Rooney Mara essaying the role of his girlfriend and Nicole Kidman essaying the role of his mother.
In the inspirational tale, Brierley stars an Indian man who is raised by Aussie parents and yearns for his biological family. As the narrative cuts to India, we see a small child of age five, who falls asleep in a parked train and ends up getting lost. More than two decades later, Brierley takes on an impossible journey to find his family by using Google Earth. For the film, Patel put on some weight, grew both his hair and beard and perfected an Australian accent needed for the film over the course of eight months.
The emotional odyssey, contained in the trailer alone, is incredibly moving and all the Oscar buzz the trailer has generated feels justified.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Dev Patel called the film a “a beautiful sweeping story, very triumphant” while executive producer Harvey Weinstein thinks it will pick up “eight or nine Academy Awards”.
Slated to release on November 25, the film will debut at Toronto Film Festival later this month and will also hit other festivals before making it to cinemas.
