Ray Winstone Says Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’ Was “Soul-Destroying” And He Tried To Quit

Actor Ray Winstone has two Netflix projects on the way: Guy Ritchie’s crime comedy series, “The Gentlemen” (read our review), and “Damsel” opposite Millie Bobbie Brown. But of course, as is custom these days, the actor was asked about his appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Winstone played the villain, Russian general Dreykov, in “Black Widow” opposite Scarlett Johansson. What seemed to be a fine gig at first turned out to be “soul-destroying” when the film’s producers asked to tone down his performance.

READ MORE: Lucrecia Martel Rips Into Marvel Movies For Their “Very Ugly” Sound: “The Way Music Is Used Is Actually Horrible”

“It was fine until you have to do the reshoots,” he explained. “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.”

The actor then revealed he was ready to give up on the film or quit, and even suggested to the producers that they recast him, but he realized he could end up in legal jeopardy and just stuck with the film to the end.

“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. Otherwise, you end up in court. It’s like being kicked in the balls.”

Harsh words. Winstone should at least be happy that his character was killed off at the end of the film, and he won’t have to appear in nine more movies or whatever some of the previous contracts were like.

Winstone had kinder words for Guy Ritchie and appeared as the big bad villain Ray Glass in his ‘Gentlemen’ TV series spin-off. “He’s pretty clear what he wants. Then he changes his mind!” Winstone said of the director. “He does that all the time, by all accounts. But as long as you’re up to speed and you know what you’re doing, then it’s easy to change. If you ain’t done your homework, then you’re f***ed. Because he’s a very clever boy.”

“The Gentlemen” comes out on Netflix on March 7, “The Damsel” on March 8, and “Black Widow” is available on Disney+ if you feel like re-watching it to try and spot all the times Winstone must have been really perturbed.