INT: Vinnie Jones

Vinnie Jones is
the “go to” actor anytime you need a tough guy who can
also act. His work in such
films as LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, SNATCH, X-MEN: THE
LAST STAND and don’t forget

GARFIELD

: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES. He
has had a long career that continues to grow.
He now appears opposite Stone Cold Steve Austin in THE
CONDEMNED. He plays a
real bad ass that is fighting for his survival against a bunch of
other criminally like-minded individuals.

I got the chance
to talk with him recently at the Wizard World Convention and we
talked about the tough guy image. He
is exactly what you would expect from him.
He has a very dark sense of humor and the tough guy thing
really is him. He spoke of his
work THE CONDEMNED and also his work on X-MEN.
He is now currently working again with Lionsgate for THE
MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, a horror flick with Brooke Shields and Bradley
Cooper. It seems this may be a
genre he may continue to live in.

Vinnie
Jones

With your
prior work in “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and
“Snatch” you created a ‘bad guy’ image. What was it
like taking on this role in “The Condemned”? What
fascinated you with the script?

Well, first of
all I thought the script was too violent. When I first met Scott
[Wiper], we met in

Santa Monica

. He asked me, “What did you think of [the script]?”
I said, you’re going to get arrested if you make this movie.
He said, “No, no, no, it’s not that bad. We’re going to
rewrite stuff.” Originally my manager said to me to
[read the script] and talk to the director about the role of Breckel.
So I went down there and I read the script, and I said I’m not
Breckel. My look is McStarley. So I said to Scott,
before we got any further and wasted each other’s time, that role
[of Breckel] is not for me. I loved the McStarley role.

[That character]
fit for me – he was brilliant. What I didn’t know was the
McStarley was written for a British guy and they changed it to an
American or something. But then Scott decided to go back to
that idea and we went on and nailed it. It was a great role
for me. I enjoyed doing it. It was also Steve [

Austin

’s] first movie. We got on great. Just sort of trying
to help him and give him some advice that I’d learned on the way.
We both come out of sports – my soccer background and his wrestling
background. Obviously, we’d met some years before.
We’d done the WWE type wrestling together in

London

so we knew each other and we got a lot of interests the same.
I thought it was the perfect scenario. We went in and it was
like two buddies doing a movie really.

What was it
like working in that location?

It was
brilliant. Steve loved it more than anyone. He’d stay
in the woods in the trailers. He didn’t even come back to
the apartments.

What’s the
difference for you between bigger budget films and something like
this?

When these
movies go too big, you’re working on a set with people who you may
be working with for four or five months and you don’t even say
“hello” to them. You don’t have a drink with them.
You might just nod your head at them. On this we all live
together on the Gold Coast in

Australia

. Me and Steve [and] Rick [Hoffman] and Scott Wiper all lived
in the same apartments. On the weekends we’d all hang out
together – all of us. Nobody ever did their own thing.
We’d all ate together and had booze together and then we’d go
back to work. It was [like a] family. I think that’s
important for a good show.

With
“X-Men”, how did you get involved?

I just got asked
to meet the producers, really. Because when I saw the drawing
of Juggernaut it was as if they’d drawn me in the suit. So I
went along and basically shook hands and got the part.

Had you been
a fan of the series before?

I do like
science fiction movies. I like “Superman”. I loved
“Robocop”. The “Bionic Man” back in the 70’s I
loved. I loved all them movies. I would love to
have some them powers. It would make life a lot easier.

What’s up
next for you?

I’m doing a
horror film called “The Midnight Meat Train”. The first day of
[shooting] is tomorrow. [It
also stars] Brooke Shields and Bradley Cooper. I play a serial
killer on the underground. [Bradley plays] an up and coming
photographer and he keeps seeing me doing these killings and he has
to get to a point where does he stop taking the pictures and when
does he call it in. There’s a big twist at the end.
It’s a real horror, horror movie. It’s gruesome.

Are you a fan
of horror in general?

Not in
general really because my wife won’t watch them. Because of
research I’ve been watching a lot of these movies. Rick
Hoffman was in “Hostel” and I’ve been watching that. I
don’t know how they get away with some of these horror movies.
Jesus! Adding the gore and the special effects stuff that we’ve
got, I mean, I’ve got contact lenses which I wear that are oozing
out blood. It is incredible what they can do now, but they are
really using technology as gruesome as they can. I skin two
people on the train. I hook them up by their Achilles
[tendons] and actually skin them. That’s just to give
you a little taste of it.

The gore
hounds are going to love it. I take it we’re looking at an
R-rating for that one?

I don’t know
how they get away with it honestly.

You mentioned
you wife doesn’t watch horror movies. So what do you say
when you go home [and talk about your day]? Oh, I just skinned
a couple of people today?

Even when I
watch it I have to keep telling myself, it’s only prosthetics or
this or that, because it really is on your plate, isn’t it?

So what
release date are they looking at for that film?

I don’t know,
probably the end of summer or Halloween.

What are your
expectations for “The Condemned”?

I think it’s
going to go through the roof. This movie tested 82 [with test
audiences]. “Die Hard” didn’t even test at 82. Anything
that tests over 50 is good, and anything that tests over 60 is
unbelievable. When you start getting into 70’s and 80’s
– forget about it. And this tested 82. The biggest
response was with women, because there is a story there about Steve
and his family. There are two stories there. There is
the island, but there is also Steve and his family in Texas.

“The
Condemned” was a blast, which is what any action film should be.
You are doing a lot of action genre films. Is that what you
like doing?

It’s what I
get offered. I’m an old-fashion minded person in a lot of
ways, and I think for John Wayne to do anything a part from be a
cowboy is wrong. People want him to be John Wayne, the cowboy,
and do a hundred films like that because that what we want.
And I think what fans expect from people. You get your fan
base from what they like you doing, and I think you should be true
to your fans. I did a great movie about the IRA and it was one
of my best performances, but people were a bit disappointed because
we wanted to see Vinnie killing people. If that’s what they,
that’s want you got to give them. You got to be true to the
fans.

After this I
think it will get me up the ladder a bit more because this will be
the second feature I’ve done with Lionsgate. And Jason
Statham, more power to him, he’s doing the same there.
You’ve got to get producers to trust that you can get the people
in the doors and pay the money to see the movies that they want you
to see. I think that’s a rule. I think Steve should
stay on this road, [he] can’t stop. Vin Diesel has changed
tactics. The Rock has changed tactics. I think they
might get a big payday on the Monday, but they’ll fizzle out as
actors by the Friday.

What people
don’t know is that they might think, oh yeah there’s a big
payday but these boys don’t need that money. Steve is very
fan conscious. I think he’ll stay at what he’s good at and
his fans want. I feel that a lot actors they cheat their fans
because they take away [what the fans want]. These guys
shouldn’t be doing comedy, they should be [doing action movies]
because that’s what the fans want. When guys like The Rock
and Vin Diesel learn from what they’ve done and they switch
tactics, it’s very hard to come back from that. I think
Stone Cold will be true to his fans. That’s the vibe I got
all through the movie. He’s a great guy.

Let me know
what you think. Send questions
and comments to [email protected].