Dev Patel is frightened of blockbuster roles

British actor Dev Patel is scared to say yes to a big budget film because his last blockbuster movie was critically savaged.
The 26-year-old was thrust into Hollywood stardom in 2008 after starring in Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, and quickly gained a role in M. Night Shyamalan $150 million (£119 million) fantasy adventure The Last Airbender.
Upon its release in 2010, the film was derided by critics and won five of Hollywood’s least coveted prizes, the Golden Raspberry Awards.
Dev says his experiences on set have made him wary of agreeing to star in blockbusters.
“I know what I’m afraid of playing: those big studio movies,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “After Slumdog, I did a film that was not well received at all (The Last Airbender).
“The budget of Slumdog was like the budget of the craft services of this movie. And I completely felt overwhelmed by the experience. I felt like I wasn’t being heard.”
The actor says his terrible time making the movie taught him a valuable lesson about when to turn down roles.
“That was really scary for me, and that’s really when I learned the power of no, the idea of saying no,” he explained. “Listen to that instinct you get when you read those words for the first time.”
Dev admits he has turned down “lots” of roles since starring in the movie, adding that when he watched The Last Airbender he, “came out of that and saw a stranger on the screen that I couldn’t relate to.”
His latest film, Lion, in which he plays Saroo Brierley, a child adopted from India by Australian parents who seeks out his biological family using Google Earth, has fared rather better with critics and audiences, with some even tipping it as an early Oscar contender.
Lion, which also stars Nicole Kidman and is directed by Garth Davis, debuted in cinemas last week (end27Nov16).