Ray Winstone says it was “soul-destroying” to act for Marvel
British actor Ray Winstone has shared his experience of being involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which he claimed was “soul-destroying”.
The actor appeared in 2021’s Black Widow as General Dreykov, a high-ranking officer in the Soviet Armed Forces. His character heads up the Red Room, the training programme designed to craft elite assassins like Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff.
Set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Winstone initially had no issues lending his talents to the superhero blockbuster, until the time came for studio-mandated reshoots, which is where his patience was pushed to the brink.
“It was fine until you have to do the reshoots,” he said to Radio Times. “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. It can be soul-destroying because you feel like you’re doing great work.”
Winstone found himself incredibly dismayed by being asked to reshoot so many of his scenes that he suggested Marvel Studios simply get rid of him altogether and hire somebody else to film the entire part instead.
“I actually said, ‘You ought to recast it because that was it for me,'” he continued. “And you end up doing it again because you’re contracted to do it. Otherwise, you end up in court.”
Making his displeasure clear in no uncertain terms, Winstone described the final stages of his contributions to Black Widow as “like being kicked in the balls.”
Winstone is set to appear in the upcoming Guy Ritchie series The Gentleman, which is set to land on Netflix on March 7th. The programme also features Vinnie Jones and Peter Serafinowicz.