Celebrity actors

The opening paragraph of this Guardian article on Ray Winstone is journalistic GBH

Poke Staff. Updated February 26th, 2024

With three acting projects to promote, we can expect to hear and see more than usual of the almost legendary actor Ray Winstone.

He was on last week’s Jonathan Ross Show, and at the weekend, the Guardian published his interview with Alex Moshakis, who – it’s fair to say – pulled not a single punch.

The implications behind this sentence are impossible to miss –

Winstone and I are here to discuss three new projects: The Gentlemen, a Guy Ritchie series, in which he plays the patriarch of a criminal family in peril; Damsel, a Netflix vehicle in which he plays the patriarch of a family grappling with a regrettable decision; and A Bit of Light, an independent film in which he plays the patriarch of a family struggling through anguish.

This barb was right out in the open.

During our conversation, Winstone portrays himself as a man of the people, which I find difficult to accept. (While discussing his upcoming Sunday dinner, Winstone suggested he might “order in sashimi”, a decision that suggests he isn’t struggling for cash.)

But it was the opening paragraph that caught the attention of comedy writer and host of the excellent Beef and Dairy Network podcast, Benjamin Partridge.

‘(L)ike watching a barrel walk in on stilts’

Shocked Surprised GIFfrom Shocked GIFs

There were a lot of sharp intakes of breath.

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Here’s a reminder that it happens all the time – just not to Ray Winstone.

It wasn’t all downvotes …just nearly all.

The article reminded writer Barry Pierce of the low opinion theatre critic Kenneth Tynan clearly had of Humphrey Bogart.

Still not as rough as being called a barrel on stilts.

If you want to read the full article, you can do that here.

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The first line of this Guardian story was hilariously brutal and precisely what it deserved

Source Benjamin Partridge Image Guardian, Screengrab