Black Widow actor Ray Winstone, who played the film’s villain Dreykov, recently accused Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company of engaging in “soul-destroying” actions.
Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Ray Winstone as Dreykov in Black Widow (2022), Marvel Studios
In an interview with Radio Times, Winstone provided a glimpse behind-the-scenes at Marvel Studios where he shared his disgust at how the company operates.
First, he said, “It was fine until you have to do the reshoots.” However, once he got to the reshoots it went downhill, “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.”
Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Ray Winstone as Dreykov in Black Widow (2022), Marvel Studios
Winstone would also reveal Marvel’s actions led him to request that they recast him.
He explained, “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.”
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Black Widow was one of the first box office disasters for Marvel Studios following the massive success of films like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
The movie only grossed $183.6 million domestically and another $196 million internationally for a global gross of $379 million.
However, the film was released day and date on Disney+ through Premier Access for the price of $30 on top of a Disney+ subscription. Disney claimed the film grossed over $60 million through the Premier Access.
Even with the extra $60 million that only brought the global total to $439 million and made it one of the worst performing MCU films. In fact, without factoring for inflation, at the time of its run at the box office it had only performed better than Captain America: The First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk.
Yelena (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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Not only did the film perform poorly at the box office, but as Cosmic Book News points out, the film was also one of the first to embrace the various forms of wokeness that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now known for.
Black Widow actress Scarlett Johansson promoted the film using the #MeToo movement. She told Empire Magazine, “I think this film in particular is very much reflective of what’s going on in regards to the Time’s Up movement and the #MeToo movement.”
She added, “It would be such a miss if we didn’t address that stuff, if this film didn’t take that head-on. I think, particularly for Cate, it was so important for her to make a movie about women who are helping other women, who lift other women up out of a very difficulty situation. Someone asked me if Natasha was a feminist. Of course she is, it’s obvious. It’s kinda an asinine question.”
The film also infamously gender-swapped Taskmaster with actress Olga Kurylenko.
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Given the film clearly embraced feminism and was the first of many films to push various forms of woke ideologies, it’s not surprising that Winstone would describe being on the set of the film as “soul-destroying.”
These ideologies that The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios have embraced are designed to destroy souls.
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of Winstone’s comments?
