Vinnie Jones was gutted with what X-Men: The Last Stand did to Juggernaut

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I think it's safe to say that X-MEN: THE LAST STAND won't be topping anyone's list of the best films in the franchise, but the film did experience its fair share of issues on the road to the big screen. After X-MEN and X2 director Bryan Singer elected to jump ship in favour of SUPERMAN RETURNS, 20th Century Fox went on the search for a new director and chose Matthew Vaughn (THE KING'S MAN). Before Vaughn departed the project several months later, he had cast several roles, including Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut.

When he won the role of Juggernaut, Vinnie Jones was hugely excited, and the actor told ComicBookMovie that it was a "great script" and a "great character" and that he had signed on for three movies. However, when Matthew Vaughn left and was replaced by Brett Ratner, the character of Juggernaut nearly disappeared in the subsequent rewrite.

Brett Ratner basically dissolved the character. I was in my f***ing trailer half the time. It's one of the most disappointing jobs I've been on as far as, you know, 'What am I doing here?' It wasn't the same Juggernaut as I signed on for. They took his storyline away, they'd taken his character away, his dialogue. I had two big meetings with Brett about it, and he said, 'Yeah, yeah, it's coming. They're writing stuff for you as we speak' and it never f***ing happened. Disappointment wise, that was probably one of the biggest. What's upsetting is some of the fans blame me! It was f***ing nothing to do with me! That role, I didn't sign up for. The Juggernaut you saw was not the Juggernaut I signed on for with Matthew Vaughn, I'll tell you that now. It upset me.

"I know what it means to the fans, and I felt like I was a bit of a scapegoat as no one ever told my side of it," Jones continued. "Nobody ever stood up and said, 'Hold on a minute, we completely whitewashed Vinnie's character. Basically, I was an extra, mate. That's how I felt. I was gutted, to be honest." The character of Juggernaut would reappear on the big-screen in DEADPOOL 2, but this time he was an entirely computer-generated character who was voiced by Ryan Reynolds. Should the opportunity ever arise for Vinnie Jones to reprise the role, the actor said that he'd "love a chance at putting it right."