Absolutely. Of course, you also have a really impressive list of credits, but when you realised acting was something you wanted to do after your football career, who were some of your main inspirations?
Lee Marvin was a big favourite of mine. I was a big Lee Marvin fan. Clint Eastwood. Rocky I and II were two of my favourite movies...Braveheart was another one. I love Robert DeNiro in his movies. I don't agree with him ranting and raving as an actor about politics, but I love him as an actor. There's so many. Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday. Michael Caine: awesome. Ray Winstone, I grew up with in Scum, so they're the actors I really liked.
Reading the press notes for the movie, it sounds like you and Scott Wiper have a great relationship, but what sort of dynamic did you have on set and how did that differ from the last time you worked together on The Condemned?
It's more than a friendship. We started off as work colleagues, then friends, and now brothers. Obviously, me and Stone Cold Steve Austin were the stars of The Condemned, so Scott as a director, has to work with you, and you've got quite a lot of say as an actor. When you're a producer, you go head to head with each other and don't agree all the time, but when one of you is down, the other has got to pick you up and put you over his shoulder and be professional. We both respect each other enormously, we're both straight batters, we're both honest as the day's long, and if we shake hands and say our word is our bond, you can bet your life it is, and we had that with each other. We've still got it now.
We don't always agree, and we've had some serious rows, but it's good to get it out and then you've got to be man enough to say, 'You're right, I'm wrong.' That's what creates a good working relationship. Sometimes, Josh, he doesn't want to deal with the actors. They're going to him, and he'll say to me, 'C'mon, f***ing step up as a producer here and deal with this and deal with that,' and you have to, you know? I didn't feel some of the actors were taking it as serious as what we were at first because we sweated blood and tears to get this movie going, and after the first week, I took all the actors for dinner and read them the riot act and, not Ron and Malcolm, of course, but all the others, and I said, 'If you think you're going to come here and f*** this up and not give it your all, you're very much mistaken. You'll be on the plane home in the morning, so buck up.' And they did. I'm not sure many producers would do that. The trouble is, a lot of producers and directors all kiss the actors arses, and I don't think that's the right way to go. I think you should be strong with them, and they should feel lucky they're on the set.
You're obviously not just there to have fun; you're keeping an eye on the budget and those things, so did that strain your relationship with the actors or were you purely focused on getting this movie made?
A bit of both really, mate. I was focused and weeks ahead with the acting and dialogue. Basically, I went very, very strong and hard producing, and then I went all balls out to the wall as an actor, and then that released me on set to be a producer when I wasn't filming. First and foremost, they all knew that, yes, I was starring in the movie, but I had my producer's hat on, and I wasn't going to be f***ed around by anybody. There was too much at stake.
View this post on Instagram Film night? 🎥 🍿 🎞 I have got you covered! @thebiguglymovie is NOW Available to buy/rent now on Rakuten TV : https://bit.ly/39uKpll And SKY Store TODAY: https://bit.ly/2COcmIS (Swipe ups in my stories 👆🏼) A post shared by Vinnie Jones (@thevinniejones) on Jul 26, 2020 at 8:30am PDT
Film night? 🎥 🍿 🎞 I have got you covered! @thebiguglymovie is NOW Available to buy/rent now on Rakuten TV : https://bit.ly/39uKpll And SKY Store TODAY: https://bit.ly/2COcmIS (Swipe ups in my stories 👆🏼)
A post shared by Vinnie Jones (@thevinniejones) on Jul 26, 2020 at 8:30am PDT
You made your acting debut with the classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but would you like to reunite with Guy Ritchie down the line whether it's another gangster movie or even something like Aladdin 2?
Oh, yeah, that's no question. I love working with Guy, and when he's got the right role for me, I'm always waiting for the phone to ring. Me and Guy are brothers, and I'll just wait and see when he wants me. He knows where I am, and obviously, if there's something there – he's very particular on what he wants – then we'll see! I think he's just done another movie with Jason Statham, so we'll see going down the line. His stuff is great. It's what we all love.
Getting back to The Big Ugly, I thought your monologue in the jail cell was superb, but were there any other moments on set that stand out to you as being particular favourites?
I got a standing ovation for that from the crew and the camera men. That was great, that was. There was one. When I was sitting on the wall with Lara, and she's saying to me, 'You loved her...' and all the rest of it, I looked down to my left while we're in the scene and I saw an eight-foot snake coming straight towards me along the wall. In the middle of the scene, I said, 'Leven, I just need to stop a minute. Just come with me, love. Just walk over here a minute.' She's like, 'Yeah? What's going on? What are you doing?' What's up?' and all that. So, I said, 'Just walk away, just come over here with me,' so we walked away and then I said, 'SNAKE! THERE'S A F***ING SNAKE!' And there was this eight foot f***ing snake coming straight at me. Mate, it was about three foot away from me. I don't like snakes, and I wanted to keep her calm because I didn't want her to fall off the f***ing wall or something. That was a bit scary!
I recently spoke to Stu Bennett about working with you on I Am Vengeance: Retaliation, and with that coming out on Blu-ray soon, I wondered how you found squaring off with that former pro wrestler?
It was great. Stu was great. We just went on, we were both professional, and we did our thing. Stu's trying to make his big break in acting, and I'm sure he'll get bigger and bigger, you know? Fair play to him and hat off to him. He's worked very hard. Really nice geezer, I really liked him.
View this post on Instagram I Am Vengeance: Retaliation is out in the UK now! Check out @thevinniejones as Sean Teague, Gold's charismatic former comrade-in-arms, now his deadly nemesis! Buy the film using the link in the bio! #action #wwe #iamvengeance #iamvengeanceretaliation #WadeBarrett #fight #VinnieJones #newrelease #evolutionaryfilms @stubennettofficial @thevinniejones @rossboyask @evofilmsuk @bentley.kalu.3 @katrinadurden @phoebe_robinson_galvin @sambenjaminnow @jacob.anderton @jessicajanerabbit @evofilmsuk @bigjoeegan @gregburridge @mrleeacharles @timman79 @tonycactor @aaron.destrete @markgriffinwrites @morganjamesofficial @dritanrkastrati @sonny_louis @jleemoon @joshmyers1986 @theaxelnu @law_action @therealdavidschaal @leoncheesua @actiondanstyles @dominickinnaird lyjeanpaul Less Today A post shared by I Am Vengeance (@vengeancefilmuk) on Jul 13, 2020 at 7:03am PDT
I Am Vengeance: Retaliation is out in the UK now! Check out @thevinniejones as Sean Teague, Gold's charismatic former comrade-in-arms, now his deadly nemesis! Buy the film using the link in the bio! #action #wwe #iamvengeance #iamvengeanceretaliation #WadeBarrett #fight #VinnieJones #newrelease #evolutionaryfilms @stubennettofficial @thevinniejones @rossboyask @evofilmsuk @bentley.kalu.3 @katrinadurden @phoebe_robinson_galvin @sambenjaminnow @jacob.anderton @jessicajanerabbit @evofilmsuk @bigjoeegan @gregburridge @mrleeacharles @timman79 @tonycactor @aaron.destrete @markgriffinwrites @morganjamesofficial @dritanrkastrati @sonny_louis @jleemoon @joshmyers1986 @theaxelnu @law_action @therealdavidschaal @leoncheesua @actiondanstyles @dominickinnaird lyjeanpaul Less Today
A post shared by I Am Vengeance (@vengeancefilmuk) on Jul 13, 2020 at 7:03am PDT
Finally, with cinemas closed, The Big Ugly obviously has the chance to grab more people's attentions than it might if big blockbusters were still playing, so what would you say to our readers about why they should check out the movie in their homes this weekend?
Well, I think if you like anything like Hell or High Water or that kind of stuff, old Westerns, love stories, it's for you. It's got a lot of layers this movie for a lot of people. I had a screening for 100 people in England on Friday night, and we got a standing ovation, and there were women in there that loved it, blokes that were going, 'I thought this was just gonna be like a Rambo movie with you going on the rampage like you did in Condemned and killing everybody. How cool is that?' It's a stylish noir movie, and it needs the recognition. If Taylor Sheridan would have written this, people would be singing from the rooftops about it, I'm sure they would have.
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