Despite having major roles in movies like The Departed and Beowulf (we will take this moment to ignore Indy 4), Ray Winstone is not yet the major name he should be in the States. It takes a lot of skill to be over 50 and still make audiences feel as though you can kick their ass at the drop of a hat. One of his most undersung performances is in Sexy Beast, where while he admittedly gets overshadowed by Ben Kingsley's performance, but nonetheless puts on a great show, aided by a great script. So why not return to the well?
David Scinto, who wrote the script for Sexy Beast with partner Louis Mellis, is about to direct his first film, and Winstone will be all over it, according to THR. The film, titled Night Flower, is being described as "terrifying romantic thriller," and will be Winstone's third team-up with the writer, following completion of 44-Inch Chest, which saw a limited release in the US last month. Actors Ben Whishaw and Andrew Garfield are also in talks for roles.
While their last team-up didn't exactly yield phenomenal results according to most critics, their first represents one of the best gangster/heist films of the last decade and earned them an extra length of rope to start off a career (Sexy Beast was Scinto's premier effort). Whether said rope is used to hang and kill the rest of what could have been a promising career or used to pull himself out of troubled waters is something that hangs on this newest effort. Regardless, this will probably be a British film to follow in the next couple years.
