Ray Winstone reveals legendary Guy Ritchie project he almost starred in

Virgin Radio

6 Mar 2024, 08:57

With Guy Ritchie's new Netflix series The Gentlemen heading to Netflix this week, the stars assembled on the red carpet at the Global Premiere in London, and virginradio.co.uk was there to talk to them!

Existing in the same universe as Ritchie’s 2019 movie of the same name, The Gentlemen stars Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Max Beesley and Ray Winstone.

Whilst Ray Winstone seems like a perfect fit for a Guy Ritchie project, remarkably this is the first time that he has worked with the director. Speaking to virginradio.co.uk and other press at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane last night (5th March), the Sexy Beast actor said: “I nearly worked with him many years ago on Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. It didn't happen. So we had to wait all this time. And then this came along.”

The actor - who joins the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with webuyanycar on Virgin Radio tomorrow (7th March) - added: “I like his films, and we got together and we had a chat, and here we are!”

Landing on Netflix on 7th March, the series follows aristocratic Eddie (Theo James) who inherits the family estate. However, he discovers that it's home to an enormous weed empire — and its proprietors aren't going anywhere.

Winstone plays Bobby Glass in the series. Explaining his character to us, he said: “He's kind of an old school villain, you know? Very, very, very aware about what's going on in the world around him, how it works and is a great manipulator of people, as gangsters are.

“He loves his family. His daughters are the apple of his eye. In a way, it's like me, I didn't want my daughters to be actresses. I'd rather them be doctors. But, you know, they were brought up on a film set. Bobby Glass, he wants his daughter to be something else, but she's brought up as a gangster. And he's quite proud of her, but he can't tell her that, you know? 

He added: “Then you've got the aristocracy, the family, they’ve got their family to look after. So it's a story about two families in a way, and how they survive and how they need one another to survive.” 

The Gentlemen is out on Netflix on 7th March.