Ray Winstone has spoken candidly about a moment on set when he confronted a director over alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a young actress.
The 69-year-old British actor, currently starring in Netflix’s The Gentlemen, told The Times that a filmmaker “abused his power” by groping a female performer while demonstrating how to shoot a scene in which Winstone was meant to lift her.
“He was groping her,” Winstone said. “That was it. I said, ‘Don’t you dare do that.'”
The actor’s intervention
Speaking to the newspaper, Winstone recalled the moment he stepped in to challenge the unnamed director, describing the actress as “a good kid, you know, who seemed a little lost”. The actor said he addressed the behaviour on the spot and that the situation was subsequently resolved.
“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 said.
The star, whose career spans decades of British cinema from Scum and Sexy Beast to his turn in Guy Ritchie’s 2020 crime caper, did not name the director or specify the production in question.
A different world on set
The veteran performer also reflected on how attitudes towards misconduct on film sets have shifted over the years. While he suggested that in earlier decades such behaviour might have resulted in a more physical response, he acknowledged that modern workplaces operate under different rules.
“If there was a wrong ‘un on set, 99 times out of 100 it was sorted, either by the hairy-arse riggers or sparks,” he said. “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.”
His remarks underscore a generational shift in how the film and television industry handles accusations of misconduct, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the subsequent cultural reckoning across Hollywood and beyond.
Winstone on screen
The interview comes as Winstone returns to screens in the second season of The Gentlemen, Netflix’s spin-off from Ritchie’s 2019 crime film. In the series, he plays Bobby Glass, a west London gangster drawn into the schemes of Theo James’s resourceful aristocrat, Eddie Horniman.
Winstone has form for speaking his mind about high-octane personalities. In 2024, he revisited his public criticism of Jack Nicholson, having previously described the Hollywood icon as “arrogant” during a Bafta Q&A in 2014.
“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,” Winstone said. “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.”
Yet despite the sharp words, Winstone made clear he harboured no lasting grudge. “Of course I want to work with him again! He’s a fantastic actor!” he declared.
The Gentlemen season two lands on Netflix on 3 September.
Why it Matters
Winstone’s testimony adds another high-profile contribution to a continuing conversation about power, consent and accountability on film sets. Coming from an actor with a career rooted in the grit of British working-class cinema, his account carries weight precisely because it frames intervention as routine, not exceptional. The timing, too, is notable – landing days before the return of one of Netflix’s marquee British series and against a backdrop of industry-wide scrutiny over on-set culture.
