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Actor Ray Winstone said in a recent interview that he was drunk during his audition to play Natalie Portman’s on-screen father in George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels
“I’d been out all night, and I turned up, and I knew I was wrong for the part as soon as I walked in,” Winstone recalled
Graeme Blundell played Ruwee Naberrie, father to Portman’s Padme Amidala, in 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Ray Winstone is recalling that his audition for a role in Star Wars didn’t go over well, in large part because he was drunk from the prior night.
Winstone, 68, told Far Out magazine in a recent interview that his audition for one of George Lucas‘ Star Wars prequels “didn’t go well,” in large part due to his recollection that he had been out the entirety of the night before he met with the franchise’s creator.
“Had words and that was that. I’ve worked for George since, and he was fine,” Winstone recalled. “He didn’t remember. Or if he did, he didn’t take it to heart.”
Winstone, a character actor best known for his roles in The Departed and Black Widow, implied that he had auditioned to portray Natalie Portman‘s on-screen father in one of the Star Wars prequels when he said the role he was up for was “the Princess’ father, or something like that.”
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Ray Winstone in London on March 5, 2024
“I was pissed anyway,” the actor shared. “I’d been out all night, and I turned up, and I knew I was wrong for the part as soon as I walked in, but instead of saying that, [Lucas] relayed the message to me through someone else, and I took umbrage at that.”
While Winstone never clarified exactly which Star Wars movie he auditioned for, actor Graeme Blundell ultimately portrayed the character Ruwee Naberrie — father to Portman’s Padme Amidala — in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. (Blundell, 80, also appeared in a deleted scene from 2002’s Attack of the Clones.)
As Winstone noted in his interview with Far Out, he ultimately worked with Lucas, now 81, on 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which Lucas produced and cowrote.
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Ray Winstone in London on Oct. 21, 2024
Winstone previously told his Star Wars audition story to the defunct British magazine For Him back in 1999, implying that he had auditioned for that year’s The Phantom Menace. “When I walked in he obviously knew I wasn’t right for the part, but instead of saying ‘Nice to meet you, Ray,’ and making small talk, he never looked at me,” he recalled of meeting Lucas at the time. “So I told him, ‘Why don’t we both have a 15-minute sleep and then I’ll f—- off.’ ”
“Then again, that sort of film would bore the arse off me [with] all that blue-screen work,” he said.
Winstone most recently appeared on screen in the 2024 Guy Ritchie Netflix series The Gentlemen and Millie Bobby Brown’s Netflix fantasy movie, Damsel.
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