{"id":44588,"date":"2024-01-26T15:30:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T14:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1981377"},"modified":"2024-01-26T15:59:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T14:59:24","slug":"sexy-beast-star-recalls-support-from-ray-winstone-after-landing-role","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/sexy-beast-star-recalls-support-from-ray-winstone-after-landing-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexy Beast star recalls support from Ray Winstone after landing role"},"content":{"rendered":"

James McArdle was grateful for the original star’s well wishes. <\/p>

By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 26 January 2024 at 14:30 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Sexy Beast actor James McArdle has revealed he had the full support of the original film\u2019s star, Ray Winstone, before production began on the streaming prequel.<\/p>\n

Set approximately 10 years before the acclaimed comedy-drama, the Paramount Plus<\/a> series finds Gal Dove (McArdle) living in east London with his unstable friend Don Logan (Emun Elliott).<\/p>\n

They have an opportunity to take their fledgling criminal enterprise to a whole new level by going into business with gangster Teddy Bass (Stephen Moyer), but doing so could cost them what little morality they have left.<\/p>\n

The original 2000 film starred Winstone as Gal, Ben Kingsley as Don and Ian McShane as Teddy, with the former two receiving particularly high praise for their work.<\/p>\n

McArdle told RadioTimes.com<\/a> that he approached the original Gal after landing the lead role in Sexy Beast<\/a>: \u201cI texted Ray Winstone and he sent me this lovely message back. A really gracious lesson in wishing good luck.<\/p>

\u201cAnd it really meant a lot and it gave me the confidence to go on because, obviously, it\u2019s quite daunting to take on these iconic roles, and you want to pay respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI idolised that performance and it\u2019s flawless in my eyes, so you want to pay respect to that. I also have to use my imagination to take the character into different aspects that we haven\u2019t seen of Gal before.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to have that communication with Ray actually gave me the courage to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The character of Gal Dove seemed tailor-made for Winstone, a real-life east-ender, but McArdle had to mask his natural Glaswegian accent for the role.<\/p>\n

\"Don\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Emun Elliott and James McArdle star in Sexy Beast.<\/span><\/figcaption> Paramount Plus<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

He explained: \u201cI do have to transform for a lot of my work \u2013 there\u2019s not often calls for me to be close to myself. So it\u2019s something I\u2019m used to [and] something that I really take great pleasure in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to find a way that helped me get to the heart of the character. To me, it was a more psychological element \u2013 the movement and the accent were just the garnish on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

A particular inspiration for the actor, whose past credits include Mare of Easttown<\/a> and Andor<\/a>, was a memorable scene from the film in which Gal orders calamari at a restaurant after receiving some worrying news.<\/p>\n

McArdle added: \u201cI used to watch that scene again and again and again. For me, it just distilled every aspect of his character.\u201d<\/p>\n