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It Can Be Soul-Destroying': Ray Winstone Recalls Doing Black Widow With Marvel Only Because 'You’ve Got To Pay The Rent'
Ray Winstone, who played Dreykov in the 2021 Marvel film Black Widow, shared a negative experience during production, stating that the filming process was satisfactory until the reshoots.
Ray Winstone is looking back at his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and recalls a not-so-great experience during production for Black Widow. Recently while talking with Radio Times magazine, the actor, who played villain Dreykov in the Scarlett Johansson-led 2021 action-packed spy thriller, admitted that filming the Marvel movie was fine until the reshoots.
Ray Winstone shared his horrible experience while filming Black Widow
Ray Winstone appeared in Marvel’s Black Widow, which came out in 2021 and which starred Scarlett Johansson as the titular character. It was not fun, he said in this week’s issue of Radio Times, as he revealed his experience playing the film’s villain, Russian general Dreykov.
“Then you find out that a few producers have come down, and your performance is too much, it’s too strong… That’s the way Marvel works,” Winstone said. “It can be soul-destroying because you feel like you’re doing great work.”
Winstone said that he wanted to give up on the project altogether, but realized he couldn’t. "I actually said, ‘You ought to recast it because that was it for me.’ And you end up doing it again because you’re contracted to do it,” he explained. “Otherwise you end up in court. It’s like being kicked in the balls.”
Winstone admitted in an interview with The Guardian that he sometimes undertakes projects he doesn't feel passionate about due to financial necessity. “You go have fun for six weeks, see how it turns out,” the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull actor said of the filming process. “If it turns out great, it’s a plus. If it don’t, it don’t. But you’ve had a great six weeks."
He added, “You do do films you don’t want to do. But you’ve got to do them because you haven’t worked in a little while and you’ve got to pay the rent.” Winstone is set to star in three upcoming projects, including Netflix’s Damsel, A Bit of Light and Guy Ritchie’s series, The Gentlemen.
Exploring the career of Ray Winstone
Raymond Winstone is an English actor with a career spanning five decades. He has worked with directors like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, and is known for his "hard man" roles. Winstone's first film was That Summer!, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer. He gained fame as Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood from 1984 to 1986.
Winstone received a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination for his performance in Nil by Mouth (1997). He also starred in the British independent films Scum (1979), Quadrophenia (1979), The War Zone (1999), Last Orders (2001), Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010). Winstone's other notable films include Sexy Beast (2000), Ripley's Game (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), King Arthur (2004), The Departed (2006), Beowulf (2007), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Hugo (2011), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and Black Widow (2021).
Winstone appeared in the 1980s Fox and later in Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. He then starred in Bergerac's third season in 1983 and was cast as Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood in 1984. Winstone enjoyed his role and considered Scarlet to be the first football hooligan. After the series ended, he co-starred with Jason Connery in Tank Malling.
He has appeared in numerous TV shows, including The Sweeney, The Bill, Boon, Fairly Secret Army, Ever Decreasing Circles, One Foot in the Grave, Murder Most Horrid, Birds of a Feather, Minder, Kavanagh QC, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and Get Back. Winstone also gained popularity in the theatre, playing in Hinkemann in 1988, Some Voices in 1994, Dealer's Choice, and Pale Horse the following year. He also added his London accent to a dance track by Marsha Raven in 1982.
In 2000, Winstone starred in Love, Honour and Obey, followed by the lead role in Sexy Beast in 2001. Winstone played "Gal" Dove, a retired former thief dragged back into London's underworld by a psychopathic associate. He also starred in To the Green Fields Beyond in 2000 and performed in The Night Heron in 2002. In 2001, he joined Kevin Spacey for 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic. Winstone appeared in Last Orders in 2001, starring Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay.
He played a gangster in Ripley's Game (2002), Lenny Blue, and The Bouncer. Winstone was chosen by Anthony Minghella to play Teague, a sinister Home Guard boss in Cold Mountain (2003), gaining international recognition. He also appeared in the tragi-comic The Martins and the semi-sequel to The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Winstone gained fame for his roles in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Departed, Beowulf, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Changeling-inspired Compulsion. In 2015, he played the role of ex-criminal Jimmy Rose in The Trials of Jimmy Rose, a three-part drama for ITV. In 2006, Winstone appeared as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car during series 8 of BBC's Top Gear.
In 2015, he starred in The Gunman with Sean Penn. That same year Winstone also featured in remake Point Break, a relative box-office success, though critically panned. In 2017 the actor starred in the critically acclaimed British independent film Jawbone, before 2018's critical and box-office failure King of Thieves. In 2019 Winstone starred in critical disaster The Queen's Corgi, and critical and box-office bomb Cats. Winstone then starred in Marvel's Black Widow in 2021.
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