Winstone: British government killing film making

Actor Ray Winstone has accused the British government of killing off the British film industry.

The star said Chancellor Gordon Brown’s decision to close tax loopholes on British-made films last year has had a disastrous effect.

He is being forced to shoot his latest project, an adaptation of the Sweeney Todd story, in Romania despite the fact it is set in London.

“Our TV is the best in the world but thanks to the government we have to make films in other countries,” said the star of such British successes as Sexy Beast and Nil By Mouth.

“It seems that when a man who wants to make lots of money finds a tax loophole to make films, the government doesn’t like that.

“Each time a film doesn’t get made, 400-500 people are out of work – people who pay their taxes.

“These are people from the office and administration staff right up to the director. If you’re making five or six or seven films a year, that’s a lot of people who are paying their taxes, so the government is losing revenue. I don’t see the logic in that.”

The 48-year-old actor said of his Sweeney Todd film: “It’s about London and I want to make it here, but it would cost two or three times more to make it here. The money comes out of the country and goes somewhere else.

“It actually starts to dishearten you, it breaks your heart a little bit.

“Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t see how putting that amount of people out of work is a good thing. But I was a kid who went to a comprehensive school in Plaistow so what do I know.”

Winstone was speaking at the launch of ITV’s new autumn season.

He is set to star in Vincent, a private detective series which co-stars former Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones.