Adi Shankar Has a Plan to Save Hollywood. But You Might Not Like It.

Adi Shankar moved to America just two days before everything went to hell. Following a nomadic childhood where his family changed homes constantly, pinballing from Kolkata to Mumbai to Hong Kong to Singapore, the future film and TV producer arrived in the states at age sixteen to attend boarding school in Rhode Island. Forty-eight hours after his arrival, the calendar turned to September 11, 2001. Suddenly, it was difficult growing up brown in America.

As an adolescent, Shankar latched onto the pop culture that reverberated through a war on terror: nu metal on MTV, reruns of action movies on cable TV, and Devil May Cry on PlayStation 2. As an adult, he found his footing as a Hollywood movie producer. His IMDB is full of gutsy dadcore fare starring names you’ll surely recognize: The Grey (2011) with Liam Neeson, Killing Them Softly (2012) with Brad Pitt, Lone Survivor (2013) with Mark Wahlberg, and The Voices (2014) with Ryan Reynolds. It all led him to Devil May Cry, his latest animated series on Netflix. Although based on a major video game franchise from Japanese titan Capcom, Devil May Cry is quite personal, reflective of how Shankar “saw the world” in 2001. “Season 1 is about how we all lost something as children, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to reclaim it or find it or heal from it,” Shankar tells me.

NetflixDevil May Cry, the newest animated series from Adi Shankar, premiered on Netflix in early April.

A week after Devil May Cry premiered on Netflix, Shankar sat ringside at WWE’s Monday Night Raw. He dressed like his show’s protagonist, Dante: a half-human, half-demon, all-too-cool bounty hunter thrust into saving the world by the U.S. government on the eve of Apocalypse. The getup (which he tells me was intentionally bad cosplay) consisted of a silver-white wig and a blood-red leather trench coat that reflected the lights of the T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City.

When the cameras pointed his way, Shankar didn’t flash a smile. Nor did he wave with an overpriced beer in one hand. Instead, he silently pointed to the rafters—and to the heavens—in a manner evocative of hardcore wrestling legend Sabu, who died weeks later on May 11. “I wanted to be a professional wrestler,” Shankar tells me, weeks later. “If you’re a wrestler, you live the gimmick. It’s a 360-degree art form.”

It hardly surprises me that Shankar harbored wrestling dreams, because he’s played the heel throughout his career. During his run making movies starring Neeson and Wahlberg, Shankar surfaced at red carpets in KISS-esque eye makeup, flowing raven hair, and rock star leather and denim. These days, you’ll find him in a suit, but don’t call him a sellout. “One of the things I’ve learned from wrestling is you have to keep reinventing yourself,” he says, “Like when Chris Jericho dropped the long hair and became a riff on Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. There’s evolution. What I’m trying to convey is that I am a generational fucking talent. I am the guy that can save Hollywood.”

Charley Gallay”There are shades of gray in my work because I don’t see the world as good versus evil,” Adi Shankar tells Esquire. “There’s more nuance the more you get to know someone.”

As his movies played on the big screen, Shankar broke the Internet in a way that sent comic book fanboys for a loop. The “Bootleg Universe,” as he calls it, began as an anthology of gritty, adult-oriented, and very unofficial short films based on Saturday morning staples. It was shorts like The Punisher: Dirty Laundry (2012) and Venom: Truth in Journalism (2013) which dipped the Marvel heroes in pools of grime; and POWER/RANGERS from 2015, a viral phenomenon that interpreted the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as shellshocked ex-child soldiers.

Since 2017, Shankar’s work has been at home on Netflix, with dark yet faithful—and now official—animated shows based on video games. It started with the acclaimed Castlevania and continued with Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. Soon, there will be Assassin’s Creed, Hyper Light Drifter, PUBG, and more. These are not just shows, but battle plans for an overdue American animation revolution.

Maybe things would be different had Adi Shankar not followed in the literal footsteps of one of his heroes: the aforementioned Sabu. “My parents were like, ‘You need to go into finance,'” he remembers. “I was interviewing at CitiBank. I was in a suit. I’m in JFK waiting for my flight to Chicago.” Standing there was Sabu. “I’m like, ‘Hey, you’re Sabu.’ He’s like, ‘Who are you? Are you a narc?’ He didn’t know if I was real or not. [Sabu says] ‘Come with me!’ I follow him around. That made me realize I’m not going to do finance. I’m around other business types in business suits, and Sabu was more interesting.”

Below, Shankar unloads on the making of Devil May Cry, what’s next for the Bootleg Universe, and why American animation needs a kick in the ass.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

ESQUIRE: Of all the franchises in Capcom’s catalog, what drew you to Devil May Cry?

ADI SHANKAR: Capcom suggested DMC. Castlevania was coming out. I showed up to a meeting with Capcom—I remember because I used to wear makeup and costumes, that was my gimmick then—and I wouldn’t stop talking about Dino Crisis. [I said] “I want to bring back Dino Crisis.” I was dressed like a character from Devil May Cry. They start whispering in Japanese, and they’re like, “What about Devil May Cry?” I was like, “Yeah, I’m in.”

Just like that?

It was immediate. I didn’t realize Devil May Cry was on the table. I didn’t want the biggest thing. Don’t give me Street Fighter or Assassin’s Creed. I was a fan of so many things that disappeared and I was in a position of power to bring them back. I could make more Dino Crisis! And if I blow up Dino Crisis into Jurassic Park, I should do that. I was also inspired by Devil May Cry. I’ve been a fan since 2001. There was just a part of me that didn’t want to tip my hand how much I liked it.

You cast Johnny Yong Bosch as the voice of Dante. He’s also in the games as the voice of Nero. What made you see him as Dante?

It happened at Power Morphicon. [Editor’s note: Power Morphicon is the biennial Power Rangers fan convention.] After the Power Rangers short dropped, I had frat guys coming up to me like, “Dude! Yes!” I assumed it was universal acclaim and I was this beloved guy—not realizing I was going to a hardcore audience who were horrified they allowed me in the venue. Someone said, “You’re brave for going there.” I don’t fucking back down, so I’m definitely going. But in my head, I’m like: Am I John Cena at ECW One Night Stand? Minutes before I go on stage, [ex-Power Rangers stars] Steve Cardenas and Johnny walk in like, “We’ll go on with you.”

We went to an afterparty. I sat in a corner talking to Johnny about his line in the Power Rangers movie