Deadlier than the male

It is September 2019. At Pinewood Studios, just outside London, “action” has been called for the umpteenth take of a scene that opens the third act of Marvel’s Black Widow. A warehouse has been transformed into the office of the movie’s baddie, Dreykov (played by Ray Winstone with a chewy eastern European accent). The decor is Soviet drab meets midcentury modern in shades of tobacco, with wood-panelled walls and a huge desk. Winstone is nowhere to be seen, but a dozen or so badass female assassins in black stand in a circle around his desk; on cue, they jump back.

The mood is intense, hear-a-pin-drop silent; then, a disembodied voice pipes up over the sound system, softly spoken, with an Australian accent. It is the director, Cate Shortland. “At the beginning, just make sure you’re all moving in slowly … Thank you!”

I’ve been on enough blockbuster film sets to know that this is not normal.