How Vinnie Jones Really Feels About His Role In X-Men - Exclusive

English actor Vinnie Jones has one of the most diverse resumes out there. He's been in everything from Gone in 60 Seconds to Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted to Absolution, has had noteworthy roles on a handful of television series, and has lent his voice to a number of different projects. And before all that, Jones was a professional footballer — playing midfielder on various teams throughout his 15-year sports career. Most recently, he made The Big Ugly – a film he starred in, raised the budget for himself, and co-produced alongside director Scott Wiper. 

Of course, no major actor only makes passion projects. Many have nightmare projects — ones they thought were perfect but ended up being less so when all was said and done. Looper spoke with Jones about how making The Big Ugly was a labor of love that he's immensely proud of, and during our conversation, the multi-talented star opened up about the dome-shaped albatross he still wears around his neck.

As superhero movie fans will forever remember, Jones appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand as Juggernaut (real name: Cain Marko), a mutant who possesses superhuman durability and strength. A recruit of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Juggernaut became one of Magneto's (Ian McKellen) generals and was sent out to kill the mutant Leech (Cameron Bright), who can neutralize other mutants' powers. When Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) arrived to defend Leech from Juggernaut's wrath, Juggernaut ended up knocking himself out by running into a wall. 

For Jones, Juggernaut was a role with colossal potential that wound up fizzling out. "I've always thought I got let down on X-Men. I was very upset," he told Looper. "I hadn't let the cinema people down, but I thought I'd got let down. People pay good money to go to the movies."

There were big changes in production that upset Jones and upended the character's arc. As he explained, "When I signed on, Matthew Vaughn was going to be the director. And when Brett Ratner came on, my character got dissolved." Ratner brought a lot of characters into The Last Stand, and Jones said that by a certain point, "it wasn't the same script as I read when I signed on." 

Jones continued, admitting that he felt that he wasn't given the time, space, or tools to do Juggernaut justice. "I actually had a big meeting with Brett Ratner because I was concerned about it and he assured me that they were writing new stuff," the actor noted. According to Jones, Ratner claimed that Juggernaut would be bigger and better in whatever came next, but Jones never heard back.