Ray Winstone Says Marvel Reshoots ‘Can Be Soul-Destroying’ and He Nearly Quit ‘Black Widow’: ‘It’s Like Being Kicked in the Balls’

Ray Winstone joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play the villainous Dreykov in the 2021 tentpole “Black Widow,” led by Scarlett Johansson in the title role. The actor had a decent enough time making the movie. But the same can’t be said for coming back for Marvel reshoots.

“It was fine until you have to do the reshoots,” Winstone recently told 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.”

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While Winstone reluctantly participated in the “Black Window” reshoots, it appears his main reason for doing so were contractual.

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

Winstone is currently making the press rounds in support of several new projects, from Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series “The Gentlemen” to the Millie Bobby Brown-starring fantasy movie “Damsel.” He told The Guardian that sometimes you just take a project because you need the money, not because you’re super passionate about the script.

“You go have fun for six weeks, see how it turns out,” Winstone said. “If it turns out great, it’s a plus. If it don’t, it don’t. But you’ve had a great six weeks… You 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 was joined in Marvel’s “Black Widow” by Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, Olga Kurylenko, William Hurt and Rachel Weisz. He has not yet returned to Marvel.

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