Ray Winstone recalls turning down the lead role in hit series The Wire, admitting he chose family over American fame.
The Gentlemen star says he has no regrets about saying no to starring in what many critics are describing as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time.
Ray, 69, was offered the role of hard-drinking narcotics cop Detective Jimmy McNulty in the drama which ran from 2002-2008, with the role eventually going to fellow Brit Dominic West.
Ray, who had come to the attention of US casting agents at the time thanks to his starring role in the 2000 film Sexy Beast, said it was his family who made him say no.
Recalling how he didn’t want to leave his wife Elaine and three daughters, Lois, 44, Jaime, 41, and Ellie Rae, 25, in England, the actor explained:
“I met the guys who produced it, who were very nice, very nice guys, intelligent, good writers… but it was 7 months in the first series aAnd next season it was seven months.”
Ray Winstone recalls turning down the lead role in hit series The Wire, admitting he chose family over American fame (pictured with wife Elaine and two eldest daughters Lois and Jaime in 1999)
Ray was offered the role of narcotics officer Detective Jimmy McNulty in the drama, with the role eventually going to fellow Brit Dominic West (pictured with Wendell Pierce in the show)
‘And I thought, “well, there are options here”. I’m going, don’t see me children and I wife for seven months because they were small, or I bring them with me.’
Ray imitated an American accent and told the The Romesh Ranganathan Show podcast, ‘mom, dad, I don’t have that. We are British.’
He added that the “gun culture” in American schools also turned him off. ‘KIDs go school, you know, looking for weapons.”
“No, we didn’t have that here at the time, you know, and it’s like, no. You have to make choices. Choices in life, you know’
When asked if he ever regretted saying no, the down-to-earth star replied: “Nothing.” In fact, it was better for me not to be in it. The guy who played it was blinding, you know.”
Instead of The Wire, Ray starred in major Hollywood films in the mid-1990s, including Jerry Bruckheimer’s King Arthur, Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film The Departed and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The actor is currently starring in the second series of Guy Ritchie’s hit Netflix show The Gentlemen, playing hardman Bobby Glass.
Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series, which was released in 2024 and shares the same name as the 2019 film, stars Theo James as Eddie Horniman, who in the first series suddenly inherited his late father’s estate and the title of 13th Duke of Halstead.
The actor is currently starring in the second series of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix hit show The Gentlemen, where he plays hardman Bobby Glass.
Eddie discovers that his new country is actually home to a vast underground cannabis empire, forcing him to immerse himself in the criminal world, which he slowly develops a taste for.
Ray plays the imprisoned head of the vast cannabis empire and Kaya Scodelario plays his icy daughter Susie.
With Bobby standing in the way of the criminal empire’s expansion, Eddie and Susie must decide whether to fall in line or make their own moves in the second series.
When The Times asked in a recent interview whether he has plans to slow down his career, Ray simply joked, “Well, you’ve got to pay the tax, haven’t you?”
