The one movie that terrified Ray Winstone: “It frightened the life out of me”

Posted On December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

The image of Ray Winstone as a bruising, tough man of Hollywood is difficult to shake. Throughout his career, Winstone has used his imposing frame and menacing grimace to create a sense of unshakable machismo. Bristling with intent, Winstone’s intensity has been perhaps his greatest tool. It, therefore, feels strange for the on-screen hard man to be terrified by a movie.

But we were all young once, and who among us can boast of never cowering behind the sofa cushions or wincing our eyes in the theatre, hoping for the hero to escape the clutches of their cinematic fate? For Winstone, the film wasn’t a horror flick or even an action movie; it was the 1946 edition of Great Expectations.

The original novel, written by Charles Dickens, is a timeless piece of literature that took me to Victorian values and explored themes of ambition, identity, and social class systems. Focusing on the journey of Pip, a young orphan whose life changes following the gifts from a mysterious benefactor, the book has been routinely adapted into stage and screen productions, including a particularly memorable 1946 movie from none other than David Lean.

When given the opportunity to become a part of a new production for the BBC, Winstone jumped at the chance. The brutish actor was given the role of Abel Magwitch, one of the story’s most alluring characters. Not only a hardened criminal, Magwitch is soon revealed as Pip’s benefactor. It’s a juicy part for any performer, and Winstone dove headfirst into the role. However, he relied on the 1946 picture for inspiration, even if it scared him.

“I remember when I was a boy, seeing the black-and-white film with Alec Guinness and John Mills,” he recalled to The Telegraph when opening up about taking on the role of Magwitch. Guinness is one of the most celebrated actors of his generation and was undoubtedly an influence over Winstone. But it was another performer who took on the role of Magwitch.

“There was a great old Scottish character actor called Finlay Currie playing Magwitch,” Winstone revealed. Currie was widely celebrated for his portrayal and was routinely seen as the defining vision of the role. Currie’s definitive take at such an early part of cinema’s history meant that Winstone had little to do.

The actor considered the persona of Magwitch all but confirmed: “This role was all done for me in a way, because you can’t beat that image of this big bald guy looming out of a windy graveyard by the marshes. You don’t know if he’s human, the Creature from the Black Lagoon or Frankenstein’s monster. It frightened the life out of me as a kid.”

That feeling of terror never left Winstone and he saw it as the perfect starting point for his portrayal of the fabled Magwitch. Winstone has always been an actor to rely on intensity and fear in a large chunk of his roles, and it turns out that Magwitch came from the very depths of his soul.

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