The most miserable experience of Ray Winstone’s career: “There’s nothing worse”
Prolific actor Ray Winstone, who is arguably one of the most notable character actors in history, has appeared in countless films over the years. He’s also a man who has many opinions on franchise films, especially the MCU, believing that the mass production of blockbuster entertainment hinders the chances for smaller films to find success.
That said, Winstone has been in his fair share of blockbusters, including in Marvel’s Black Widow, where he portrayed Dreykov, who oversees a program where young girls are turned into killing machines known as the Red Room Academy. While speaking with Variety, Winestone revealed that he and director Cate Shortland created a backstory for his character where he was a predator, but that was left on the cutting room floor.
Winstone seemed to be disheartened by the idea of having the character he worked hard to create changed via reshoots. “I worked with this amazing director, Cate Shortland, and we worked on what my character was going to be,” Winstone stated. “He was like a pedophile running around all these girls, and they’d become black widows. We used to get applauded on set. It was probably the best thing I’ve done for a really long time.”
Winstone then added how painful it felt when he was told all the original scenes he shot were being replaced, and then he almost didn’t return to film the reshoots. “Then I come home after finishing the job and get a call saying we need to do some reshoots. I say: How many scenes? [Cate] says ‘all of them’. So I said she should recast [the role], but I was contracted, so I had to do it. I go back, they do my hair all nice, put me in the suit, and I couldn’t do it. I’d already done it,” the actor recalled, before explaining that it felt like he was just left behind.
“I thought, ‘I’m not doing it now. I’ve done it. That’s how it’s going to be.’ That’s rejection, you know? There’s nothing worse than doing something, leaving it on the floor, and then being told it’s not right.”
Winstone believes that a major reason working on big studio projects like the MCU films can be an awful experience for a serious actor is that things can be changed with the drop of a hat. He ultimately only appeared in Black Widow for a much less extended amount of time than was initially intended.
In other interviews, including with The Guardian, the Sexy Beast star discussed how he prefers not to be involved with bigger productions, but sometimes, he takes a role in a blockbuster because he needs the money. This showcases an issue where actors want to be able to choose their passion projects, but, like with any profession, they are forced to make decisions for financial reasons they don’t necessarily want to. According to Winstone, fewer “cultural movies” are being made for actors to even appear in.
Also, while speaking with Variety, Winstone discussed his disdain for social media and how he believes it is a hindrance to the film industry. However, he did declare that he uses social media because it feels like a necessity in his profession. The Beowulf actor also discussed how he feels for young people wanting to be actors because social media makes it much more difficult to achieve success. This is because things seem impersonal, with Winstone claiming that having a daughter who is an actor opened his eyes to the fact that young directors don’t even meet with new actors during casting anymore, but instead, discuss all details regarding the role over the phone.
While Winstone cited the arthouse films Nil by Mouth and Sexy Beast as some of his favourites that he’s done, he will still take some studio roles, like Netflix’s Damsel. However, his negative experience with Black Widow may have impacted his interest in appearing in new big studio affairs.
