Black Widow Star Slams Marvel, Wanted Recast in MCU Movie

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Ray Winstone recently spoke about asking to be recast on Black Widow after Marvel ordered reshoots.

Why did Black Widow star Ray Winstone want to be recast in the Marvel movie?

In the movie Black Widow, Winstone portrayed Dreykov, a malevolent leader of the Red Room. At a recent event held at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Winstone shared his early enthusiasm about being part of the film’s production.

In an interview with Variety, Winstone shared that he collaborated with the fantastic director Cate Shortland to develop his character. He described the role as portraying a man who behaved like a predator towards numerous girls, and over time, these girls evolved into lethal figures. On set, their performances earned applause from the crew. Winstone expressed that this project was one of the best he’s worked on in quite some time.

Following the completion of his filming, Marvel requested additional shoots for Winstone’s scenes, which left him quite unhappy. This situation led Winston to propose that Shortland should consider replacing him with a different actor due to his growing frustration.

Upon returning home from completing my work, I received a call stating that some reshoots were necessary. I inquired about the number of scenes involved, to which [Cate] replied, “All of them.” I suggested recasting the role, but since I was bound by contract, I had no choice but to oblige. I went back to set, they styled my hair and dressed me up, but I couldn’t bring myself to perform again. I had already performed those scenes before. I felt rejected, as if my efforts were being discarded. There’s nothing more disheartening than putting your heart into something, only to have it dismissed later on.

In the final version of Black Widow, Winstone’s character was included, as he remained part of the cast. The English actor now feels that the film industry, particularly in Hollywood, has morphed into a commercial venture, showing less interest in creating “cinematic art” or culturally significant films.

The focus is on ticket sales. Just look at the scene in Hollywood with Marvel and similar productions. There’s certainly space for this type of entertainment, and it can be enjoyable, but it often hinders the creation of culturally significant films. These are the roles that offer the most to actors, and are truly engaging performances. It’s becoming increasingly challenging to produce such films. If you’re not active on social media these days, you might not even get considered for a movie role because they’re looking for an existing fanbase.

Black Widow is streaming on Disney+.

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2025-08-19 16:47