Vinnie Jones Talks About X-Men: The Last Stand

Vinnie Jones was a world-class soccer player before tackling his first acting role in the Guy Ritchie film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Since that 1998 indie film, Jones has had roles in Eurotrip (as a crazed soccer fan) and She’s the Man (as a soccer coach). But Jones hasn’t always stuck to his soccer roots. The English actor has also been in Gone in Sixty Seconds with Nicolas Cage and Swordfish with Hugh Jackman. And speaking of Jackman, Jones’ next big part is in the big-budget/big effects comic book film, X-Men: The Last Stand.

While doing the press rounds for the DreamWorks Pictures’ teen comedy, She’s the Man, Jones revealed a few juicy tidbits about his role as Juggernaut in the third film of the X-Men series.

Vinnie Jones on Playing Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand: Asked what playing Juggernaut will do for his career Jones said, “I think it gets you out there. For exposure-wise, I’m not going to win [an] Academy Awards for it, that’s for sure. When you’ve got such a big cast, your dialogue gets very diluted.

It’s an action movie, but I think this one’s going to blow everybody away. And the anticipation for it is huge. I’ve never witnessed anything like that. I thought Sixty Seconds and Swordfish were big movies, $100 million plus. This is crazy. Brett [Ratner, the director] just said to me there there’s a site that I’ve got to look at. They’ve actually got a Juggernaut site now and he said it’s the most hilarious thing. But Brett gave me some great lines in it. Juggernaut’s a cool dude. I’ve got some funny lines.”

Jones said his special 'mutant' power is his strength. “His strength, really, and when he gets going, he just runs through walls,” explained Jones. “He’s a big old boy. The new video is great. They show a clip of me running through two or three walls. Don’t try this at home.”

Working with a Green Screen: Jones has done it before so he was fairly comfortable performing in front of a green screen in X-Men: The Last Stand. “[In] Swordfish and Sixty Seconds. In Swordfish I fall out the back of a bus into Beverly Hills. I’m not that good a stunt man…”

Sharing Screen Time with More Than a Dozen Main Characters: Jones admitted he's not sure how much of what he filmed will end up in the movie. “You never know. Honestly, you go to the premiere and you keep your fingers crossed.”

Jones said that even though he was one of the new guys, he had a good time working with X-Men veterans Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry on X-Men: The Last Stand. “It’s so great with that because me and Halle and Hugh worked on Swordfish together so it was a little reunion. We had good fun.”

The Fight Scenes of X-Men: The Last Stand: As Juggernaut, Jones said he’s involved in a lot of fight sequences. “Sure, with Wolverine mainly. Brett wanted most of the actors to do as much as they can. I mean, Halle Berry does this amazing stunt where she spins down about 40 feet and goes through this garden, through the wall - and she does it all herself. It’s awesome. And we’ve done some frightening stuff. Imagine running through a polystyrene wall. Scary, you know?”