subject: Ray Winstone: The Biography [print this page] Ray Winstone: The Biography Ray Winstone: The Biography
If you think of British actors who have made the role of hardman their own Ray Winstone is probably going to be one of the names which come to mind having appeared in various tough guy roles on both the big screen and small. But whilst he may have this tough image on screen away from it he is a family man and proud to be British. It is this side of the actor which I was hoping to read about in Nigel Goodall's book "Ray Winstone: The Biography" but whilst Goodall delivers plenty of information on Winstone's movie career the personal side of his life is distinctly sparse, maybe due to Winstone being private but also believing that his life is nothing special.
"Ray Winstone: The Biography" starts off with a chapter which basically looks at where Winstone was career wise when Goodall wrote the book but after that it falls into the formula of being a chronological look at his life and career. The thing is that whilst Goodall tells us about Winstone growing up in London, his love of football and so on it never feels like there is any depth to it, telling us stuff which is already well known. The bits which could have been interesting such as getting into trouble, money difficulties and so on are skimmed over. Maybe Winstone didn't want to talk about these things, maybe he just wanted to keep it private but it makes "Ray Winstone: The Biography" feel half empty, lacking that personal element.
Although having said that there are moments in "Ray Winstone: The Biography" where we do get a look at Winstone's life and how protective and proud he is of his family. At the same time you realise that he is also a proud Brit and if only there were more of these personal and open moments "Ray Winstone: The Biography" would have been a much more interesting book.
What this means is that "Ray Winstone: The Biography" is very much a book which focuses on Winstone's career taking us through his early ventures onto TV through to becoming a movie star appearing in some of the biggest movies of the last few years. What is interesting is that due to Winstone having appeared in several hard hitting and often violent movies such as "Nil by Mouth" you do get a look at how these performances affected him. It makes you realise that whilst Winstone can deliver a truly hard hitting hardman behind the scenes he is much different.
But whilst these moments are interesting the amount of detail which Goodall goes into when focussing on a movie or TV role is just too much. For those who have watched Winstone in various performances may find all of this a bit dull as it fills up pages with what is already available information. But on the other hand it is a good look at his career for those who are only aware of a few of Winstone's more notorious and recent performances.
What this all means is that "Ray Winstone: The Biography" is not a completely terrible book but due to issues such as the lack of personal information and the in-depth information on every single movie and TV series it feels half empty. As such you don't feel like you are really getting to know Ray Winstone as a person but you do get to know a lot about his career. If only "Ray Winstone: The Biography" had been a much more personal look at Winstone's life rather than his career it would have been a much better and interesting read.
