Ray Winstone Arrived Drunk at Star Wars Prequel Audition for Padmé’s Father and Asked for a 15-Minute Nap

Here is a very Ray Winstone story: years ago, he auditioned for Star Wars, showed up drunk, annoyed George Lucas, and capped it off with a line that pretty much guaranteed he was not getting the job.

The Star Wars audition that went sideways

Winstone says he went in for Ruwee Naberrie, Padme Amidala's dad — the Naboo civilian who shows up in the prequels (you do see him in Revenge of the Sith). From the jump, he knew he was wrong for it. He had been out all night, turned up 'pissed,' and the room vibe was not great. Lucas, likely jet-lagged, kept yawning. Instead of telling Winstone directly that he was not the guy, Lucas apparently fed the note through someone else, which rubbed Winstone the wrong way, and it all got frosty fast.

'Why don't we both have a 15-minute sleep and then I'll fuck off?'

That was Winstone's closer. Shockingly, he did not book it. Australian actor Graeme Blundell ended up playing Ruwee instead.

• He auditioned for Ruwee Naberrie, Padme's father, during the prequel era.
• He showed up drunk after being out all night and immediately felt wrong for the role.
• Lucas was yawning through the session (Winstone chalks it up to jet lag) and stayed quiet.
• A note came through a third party instead of Lucas directly, which set Winstone off.
• He dropped the '15-minute sleep' line and walked away without the part.

No hard feelings (apparently)

Winstone says he and Lucas have worked together since and that Lucas either did not remember the dust-up or did not hold a grudge. Classic Hollywood: wild moment, clean slate later.

'That sort of film would bore the arse off me'

He also claims he never mourned losing the gig, because the blue-screen-heavy Star Wars machine is not his idea of fun. Which is funny when you remember he later went full CG-adjacent villain with the MCU's Black Widow as Dreykov.

Speaking of VFX: his Black Widow reshoot saga

Winstone recently talked about how rough that shoot got after wrap. He says he got the call to come back and redo reshoots — not a scene or two, but essentially the whole role. He even told director Cate Shortland to recast if they needed to overhaul everything, but he was under contract, so back he went. The whole process frustrated him to the point where he felt he just could not do it — and yet, he did. Inside baseball-wise, that tracks with how big franchise movies sometimes operate: you finish, then you finish again.

Anyway, the mental image of Ray Winstone tossing that line at George Lucas is going to live rent-free in my head for a while.

If you want something less chaotic to think about, I've got a full guide to the upcoming movies hitting cinemas in 2025 and beyond.