Making Marvel Movies Can Be "Soul-Destroying," Actor Says

Actor Ray Winstone has commented on his time working on the MCU film Black Widow, in which he played Russian general Dreykov. Speaking to Radio Times, Winstone said making the movie was "fine" until the reshoots when producers came in and changed things.

"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," Winstone said.

He went on to say he considered quitting the movie but that wasn't a realistic option due to his contract terms.

"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," he said.

Winstone is not lined up to appear in any additional Marvel movies at this time, and that's probably no surprise given these comments.

Black Widow was released on Disney+ during the pandemic, and this release strategy prompted Scarlett Johansson's legal team to go after Disney. The two sides eventually settled.