MCU Star Demanded Recast Following Frustrating Production

Regardless of what you think of their recent form, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has some pretty spectacular movies under its belt with some of the grandest stunts and action sequences found anywhere.

Logistically, this has led to some spectacularly complicated shoots that require months of planning, editing and, critically, reshooting, to make them a reality for the theatre-going audiences.

Apparently that doesn't work for everyone, as Black Widow star Ray Winstone made abundantly clear at the Sarajevo Film Festival, as first reported by Variety. Winstone, who plays genuinely nefarious villain Dreykov in the film, shared his thoughts on the reshooting process and how he would have been recast if he'd had his way.

"It was probably the best thing I've done for a really long time. 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,'" the actor recalled. "I said she should recast [the role], but I was contracted, so I had to do it," he said.

Winstone then went on to criticise the MCU and similar studio movies for taking away from other filmmaking, saying, "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," Winstone claimed.

The certain irony of being in the MCU and then bemoaning its effect on the industry aside, the movies are performing worse in the post-Endgame era, and it might be time for a rethink over how they approach shooting those films to keep budgets down.

In any case, Dreykov is dead in the story anyway, so Winstone is unlikely to be asked to return unless he appears in a film that takes place earlier in the timeline than Black Widow.