BLACK WIDOW Star Ray Winstone Says His Original Dreykov Was "Like a Pedophile" and All His Scenes Were Reshot — GeekTyrant

Geek Tyrant

12 hours ago

In a recent conversation at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Ray Winstone opened up about his frustrating experience working on Marvel Studios' Black Widow , revealing that his entire performance as the villain Dreykov was reshot, and that the original version of the character was a much darker, more disturbing figure.
Winstone, who played the sinister overseer of the Red Room, shared that the version of Dreykov audiences saw in the final cut of Black Widow was drastically different from what he and director Cate Shortland had originally crafted.
'I worked with this amazing 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'd become Black Widows. We used to get applauded on set. It was probably the best thing I've done for a really long time.'
Winstone explained that after wrapping what he thought was his final performance, he got an unexpected call from Shortland.
'Then I come home after finishing the job and get a call saying we need to do some reshoots. I say: how many scenes? [Cate] says 'all of them.'
'So I said she should recast [the role], but I was contracted, so I had to do it. I go back, they do my hair all nice, put me in the suit, and I couldn't do it. I'd already done it.'
His frustration didn't stop there. Winstone described the experience as emotionally crushing, saying:
'I thought, 'I'm not doing it now. I've done it. That's how it's going to be.' That's rejection, you know? There's nothing worse than doing something, leaving it on the floor, and then being told it's not right.'
This isn't the first time Winstone has voiced disappointment with the Hollywood machine. Speaking about the state of the film industry today, he said:
'It's all about selling tickets. We see what's happening in Hollywood with Marvel and all that kind of stuff. There is room for it, and it's fun, but it takes away from getting cultural films made, which are best for the actors, [and] are really good acting parts.'
He also pointed to the current pressures actors face in the casting process, adding:
'It's getting more and more difficult to do that. If you're not on social media now, they might not even consider you for a movie because they want a fanbase to come with that.'
While Black Widow wasn't a box office failure, its pandemic-era release strategy hurt its performance. It pulled in $379.8 million worldwide, well below what most Marvel Studios films typically earn.
The film's simultaneous release on Disney+ Premier Access also sparked a legal battle with Scarlett Johansson, who sued Disney over lost box office bonuses.
Winstone's character was killed off in Black Widow , and his daughter, Taskmaster, returned briefly in Thunderbolts* earlier this year, only to be taken out after a couple of scenes.
Winstone's behind the scenes details offers more insight into Black Widow 's troubled production and shows just how different the film might have been before Marvel stepped in with reshoots.
Via: Variety