‘Beowulf’: The movie Ray Winstone called the “most freeing experience”
In the realms of British cinema, a handful of stars stand at the borders like the Colossus of Rhodes, and only a fool would argue that Ray Winstone is not akin to such a monolithic figure. A true legend of the entertainment world loved on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Winstone holds a reputation of the highest order.
The British film industry would simply not be what it is today without the many remarkable efforts that Winstone has put forth throughout his career. From his early roles in Scum and Quadrophenia to his stunning turns in the likes of Sexy Beast and Nil by Mouth, Winstone has always detailed his Cockney charm.
However, Winstone has offered his talents to more than just British crime flicks. In 2007, he gave one of his most unique performances in Robert Zemeckis’ adult animated fantasy action movie Beowulf, based on the Old English epic poem of the same name and featuring the voices of Anthony Hopkins, Brendan Gleeson, John Malkovich, and Angelina Jolie.
After seeing Winstone play Henry VII in a 2003 ITV serial, he cast him in the lead role of Beowulf, and the actor found that he enjoyed working with the motion capture animation style that had previously been used on The Polar Express. “You were allowed to go, like theatre, where you carry a scene on, and you become engrossed within the scene. I loved the speed of it,” Winstone had once told Movies Online. “There was no time to sit around.”
In fact, Winstone had also told First Showing that Beowulf was “the most freeing experience I’ve ever had of working on a film or anything”. Still, by adopting the tight motion capture suit, through which “every bulge was showing”, Winstone was made to feel “vulnerable”, especially next to Angelina Jolie and Robin Wright Peck, but he had to “get over that, and just go”.
Of course, despite being around 50 years old at the time of making Beowulf, Winstone’s on-screen character was greatly de-aged, but the actor pointed out that he ended up looking like himself at the age of 18, even though the producers and animators did not have a reference photograph.
Discussing the overall production of Zemeckis’ movie and how he adapted it to the motion capture performance, Winstone noted, “I’m sure the more this is done, the better it’s going to be. When you’re doing it, you just have to forget about the technical side of it, and you just perform like you would on a normal film. The beauty is you [have] more freedom, and you can walk around.”
Winstone is naturally used to being in front of the camera and on the stage, so when he made Beowulf, he was introduced to a very different kind of filmmaker, one in which he was afforded a greater sense of freedom. Sure, Beowulf might not be the first movie that we relate to Winstone, especially against the likes of Nil by Mouth and Sexy Beast, but it still serves as an important one amongst his wider oeuvre.
The result was that Winstone “really, really enjoyed” the experience, noting, “You actually cracked on with a scene, and your energy levels were kept up. There was no time to actually sit around and lose your concentration”.
