Vinnie Jones - The Hardman Footballer Turned Hollywood Movie Star

in #football5 years ago

It's a very rare sight to see a footballer or for that matter any athlete successfully transition from on the pitch football star to movie star, in fact no one has really ever done it to any huge degree except Vinnie Jones. His story is a rather special one for a particular reason…Vinnie Jones is the most successful sportstar turned actor in the world - no one has come near to what he has accomplished.

vinnie-jones.jpg
source - IMDB - Vinnie Jones

He would probably be the last footballer you would guess would end up living in Hollywood and rubbing shoulders with A list movie stars. He wasn’t exactly the greatest of players, many people on Sports Talk Social will ironically more likely know him due to his movies rather than his football career. But some how he did what no other footballer has ever managed to do in their life - carve out a successful film career appearing in a whole range of action films. So much so even Wikipedia has him first down as a movie star and second as a footballer. Yet many of us growing up in the late 80's and early 90's will have that the other way around!

So how did the former Leeds United, Chelsea and Wimbledon nutter manage to hit the big time after he hung his boots up in 1997? One man, one reason – Guy Ritchie. When Ritchie hired Jones for Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels this was also going to be Ritchie’s first ever feature film, he himself was just entering the movie industry as a writer/director. Ritchie actually wrote the role of ‘Big Chris’ (a debt collector) specifically for Vinnie Jones. So Jones didn’t have to put in any hard audition work or go to acting school before getting the chance to appear in what became a blockbuster hit.

Ironically Vinnie didn’t need much prep work for his role as Big Chris, he was pretty much going to play the same hardman he had played all his life on the football pitch. Jones' character Big Chris is a confident and brutal debt collector in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He goes around with his son Little Chris getting what is due for his clients in one way or another. In the movie he is introduced through reputation as a guy who managed to survive being shot countless times, like he's a true force of nature. In fact Jones didn't really have to change much to act in a whole host of films, he just acted like Vinnie Jones without exception.

Jones owes his on screen fame to Guy Ritchie and this first film lead to a remarkable series of others leading all the way up to 2013 being his last real star-studded appearance working alongside Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It did help that Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was actually a big hit when it came out and brought Vinnie Jones plenty of attention for his notable role. At the time there was nothing quiet this film in existence - a real British hard nosed heist movie with plenty of balls, violence and dark humour. Although Jones didn't have a huge role in the movie, the character he played - Big Chris, caught people's eye, a cool headed dealer of true violent justice to wise guys refusing to pay their dues. He was actually a very likeable character in the movie known for giving people the chance to pay up before the fists would come out (somewhat flying in the face of the footballer we knew on the pitch in real life).

2 years later Jones was to star in Guy Ritchie's next movie, a gritty, crime comedy called Snatch released in 2000 which also featured actors like Brad Pitt. Here Jones had a very similar role - yes another hard man but a bounty hunter named Bullet Tooth Tony rather than a debt collector (he was virtually the same character to be honest!). There's a few memorable scenes in this movie with Jones, one where Bullet-Tooth Tony repeatedly slams a man's head with a car door, then pausing to answer his car phone with a jaunty, "Bonjour!"

Other notable movies Jones has starred in include Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Swordfish (2001), Mean Machine (2001), X Men the Last Stand (2006), Escape Plan (2013) where he has rubbed shoulders with the likes of John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Sly Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. To be quiet honest he's had a massive career in movies considering his modest achievement as a footballer climax at winning just a single FA Cup with Wimbledon in 1988.

Gazza.jpg

I thought I'd leave you with an iconic photo of Jones back in his days playing for Wimbledon, he was obviously just making sure Gazza wasn't getting any funny ideas behind him!

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I really didn't know he was also a footballer, and anyway he was a defender or a central midfielder ... a wonderful article

Good blog on football that Vinnie Jones he became movie star.

I guess Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has done pretty well for himself. It's arguably easier to transition from wrestling to acting as there is a certain degree of razzmatazz in that scene anyway.

You forgot to mention his superb cameo in the Ricky Gervais comedy Extras

Haha, that's my English bias of not factoring in that WWE Wrestling is a sport. I guess I need to re-word my article to be "none staged" sport ;) Oh yeah and that appearance in extras was all about Ross Kemp rather than Jones. Kemp stole the show, loved that scene!

"I headbutted a horse once"

I don't think anything Gervais does will ever top The Office but his ability to make celebs make idiots of themselves in Extras was great

Weirdly enough, him and Gazza seem to be doing some kind of nationwide tour these days!

Lol I saw that too, must be making a decent bob out of it!

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