LION STAR ON HIS OSCAR CHANCES Harrow to Hollywood Down to earth Dev feels like a fish out of water as a box office star
DOWN-TO-EARTH Oscar nominee Dev Patel insists his rise to stardom will never go to his head. Dev, 26, shot to international fame as a teenager in Slumdog Millionaire and is up for Best Supporting Actor at tonight’s awards for his role in Lion. But he says he is still the boy from Harrow, North London, and refuses to join the ranks of big time celebrities who are often disconnected from the real world. Dev believes interacting with people outside showbiz is essential for actors if they want to portray life accurately. He admits feeling “undeserving” of the fame that came with the box office hit Slumdog Millionaire in 2009. And he sometimes feels like a fish out of water in Hollywood. Dev said: “I am ambitious but I hope my work can do the talking and I can go out without having massive, burly bodyguards like Kim Kardashian. That must be hard. “What actors try to do is portray authentic humanity. Living a life through all these filters, like having a big team of protection, makes your job as an actor harder. People find it hard to relate to you.” Dev found his fame as the big moneywinning orphan in Slumdog overwhelming at first. “We were all so young. It was a blessing but part of me always felt undeserving, like I hadn’t put in the time or something,” he recalled. “I wouldn’t call myself a movie star. It’s too frazzling for me, that kind of twilight level or whatever. I want to be recognised for doing good work – but I like being able to live a life.” After Slumdog he turned down dozens of unsuitable roles and became worried about finding work. He said: “You’ve got to keep the lights on, pay the rent. There have been times when I looked out and there wasn’t a sea of roles. I wasn’t working. I had just stepped off this red carpet, surrounded by all these amazing actors and Oscar winners – and there was nothing.”
But work did come with movies such as the fantasy adventure Last Airbender in 2010 and comedy drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in 2012.
In Lion, a true life story, Dev plays adopted Australian Saroo Brierley who went on a mission to find his real Indian family.
He is competing for a gong tonight with Mahershala Ali for Moonlight, Jeff Bridges for Hell or High Water, Lucas Hedges for Manchester by the Sea, and Michael Shannon for Nocturnal Animals.
Fight
Dev revealed he had to fight hard to convince the director Garth Davis he should get the lead in Lion.
He admitted: “I had to jump through a lot of hoops. After the last audition, Garth was like, ‘I want you to really change’. It was the look, growing the beard and the hair. I went to the gym, had a dialect coach.
“Then I went to India and I travelled the trains. I wrote diaries, visited orphanages. It was a process of trying to create genuine memories we could key into the scenes.
“I wanted to commit every fibre of my being to getting this right. The script demands it and Saroo deserves it.” Dev was also concerned about getting his Aussiee accent right following jibes about his Anglo-Indian-Indian voice for the part of hotel manager Sonny onny Kapoor in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
He said: “I got a bit of flak foror that – but that character is a comedic creation, ation, so he’s an amalgam of loads of weird unclesncles of mine and this person and that person.” n.”
Best Marigold proved to be another hit. But despite the years of critical praise, Dev said still does not feel part of the Tinseltown establishment. He explained: “I do gravitate towards the idea of a fish out ut of water, I can relate to that. At school I was never really popular and I always felt t like a bit of an outsider looking in at times.” mes.”
He certainly never expected to o become an A-list star and thanks his mumm Anita for his first big break.
Anita, a carer for the elderly, , made him skip school to audition for his role as Anwar in the Channel 4 teen drama series Skins. “While going to work on the train she saw an advert in a newspaper for an open casting call forr a TV show,” he said.
“It was for Skins. We turned up and queued outside the National Youth Theatre in London. There was all these drama students doing vocal warm ups and I’m in my uniformiform and with my mum.
“I I ne never went to a drama school ool or some k kind of esteemed academy.y. It’s why th this movie Lion is important ant to me. It’ It’s a mother and son storyy and my mu mum is so pivotal in whatevertever success I have.”
His mum isn’t the only womanman in his wife,wife though. Last week Devv was spotted holding hands and kissinging a myster mystery brunette during a strollll in Runyo Runyon Canyon, Los Angeles. His new flame has also been r regularly staying at his new Hollywood pad. A pal said:d: “Dev has been trying to keep his new girlfriend secret. He’s lovedved up.”