Marvel Studios has a reputation in Hollywood. It is above all a destination for successful films executed by Kevin Feige. Nor is it a typical studio, directors who do not necessarily direct the ship and the films are often a lot of retailers along the way. The “Doctor Strange in the Multraverse of Madness” by Sam Raimi underwent a significant cover before becoming a great success. It’s just part of the agreement. Anyway, it is part of the agreement that the star of “Black Widow” Ray Winstone did not appreciate.
Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where he received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Prize (Via Variety), Winstone had a lot to say about his stay in the Marvel cinematographic universe. He played the bad Dreykov in the 2021 blockbuster. At first it was a good experience, because the actor explained that he liked to work with the director Cate Shortland on the long -standing solo film of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff. Here is what he had to say about this:
“I worked with this incredible director, Cate Shortland, and we worked on what my character was going to be. He was like a pedophile running around all these girls, and they became black widows. We used to be applauded on the set. It was probably the best thing I have done for a very long time.”
Unfortunately, things have changed once the reshuffles started. And the recovery was in no way minimal. At that time, Winstone suggested recondizing it, but that is not what things happened.
“Then I go home after finishing the work and receiving a call by saying that we have to make covers. I say: how many scenes? [Cate] Said “all”. So I said she should redesign [the role]But I was contracted, so I had to do it. I come back, they all go well, put me in the costume, and I could not do it. I had already done it. I thought, “I don’t do it now. I did it. This is how it will be. ‘”
Ray Winstone is disillusioned with the impact of Marvel on Hollywood
“It’s the rejection, do you know?” Concluded Winstone. “There is nothing worse than doing something, leaving it on the ground, then being told that it is not good.”
This is not the first time that Winstone has been talking about his work experience on “Black Widow”. In an interview in 2024, the actor described the recovery process with Marvel as “soul destructive”. It is not as if it was something new, and he is certainly not the first actor to have his problems working on a very great film very expensive with many mobile pieces. Having to reduce a performance completely is naturally frustrating.
For Marvel Studios, this film was anything but a home run. “Black Widow” was submitted to a trial of Johansson because of his simultaneous release on the VOD and in theaters in 2021, which killed its potential Haletuo with box office. Since then, the MCU has struggled to maintain the high experienced before the pandemic in 2020. To this end, Winstone also deplored the overall concentration of Hollywood on the greatest films, largely motivated by the success of the MCU. As he said:
“It is a question of selling tickets. We see what is going on in Hollywood with Marvel and all these kinds of things … There is room for that, and it’s fun, but that takes away from cultural films, which are the best for the actors, [and] are very good actor parts. It becomes more and more difficult to do so. If you are not on social networks now, they could even not consider you for a film because they want a fans base to come with it. “”
For what it is worth, superhero films have a hard time at the box office, suggesting that their reign as an undisputed dominant force in the media is coming to an end. The tide may well return to these “cultural films”, as Winstone says.
