British actor Ray Winstone has claimed that he was forced to step in when a director groped his female co-star on set.
The Gentlemen star Winstone, 69, said that the unnamed man “abused his power” by inappropriately touching the woman while showing him what to do in a scene that required him to pick her up. Winstone said he immediately scolded the director and “dealt with” the situation.
“I had this director once – I was in a scene where I had to pick up this girl, and the director wanted to show me what to do,” the actor recalled to The Times, adding: “But he was groping her.”
He continued: “That was it. I said, ‘Don’t you dare do that.’ He abused his power, took advantage, and she was a good kid, you know, who seemed a little lost. Anyway, it was dealt with.”
Winstone, who didn’t specify which director, said that if there had been a similar problem “back in the day”, the man would have been given “a slap”, but stated: “It’s a different world today.”
“If there was a wrong ’un on set, 99 times out of 100 it was sorted, either by the hairy-arse riggers or sparks. I’ve done it myself, too – taken someone to the side to give them a slap or to tell them, in no uncertain terms, to behave.”
In Netflix series The Gentlemen, a spin-off from Guy Ritchie’s 2020 crime caper of the same name, Winstone plays Bobby Glass, a west London gangster forced to do business with Theo James’s resourceful toff, Eddie Horniman.
In 2024, Winstone reflected on his struggles working with Hollywood star Jack Nicholson on Martin Scorsese’s 2006 thriller The Departed.
When asked about the fact he described actor as “arrogant” during a Bafta Q&A in 2014, Winstone said: “I don’t like arrogance. There’s no need for it. This kind of feeling of being above everyone else. We all end up in the same hole in the ground. But some people have this smarmy little side mouth. You know, they make cracks for everyone else, but not for you. You think, ‘Oh, really?’ And there’s different ways of dealing with that. You either say your piece and tell them to shut the f*** up. Or you punch them in the mouth.”
However, the actor said he’d love to make another film with Nicholson, declaring: “Of course I want to work with him again! He’s a fantastic actor!”
The Gentlemen season two will be released on Netflix on 3 September.
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