Vinnie Jones: Mellow in Hollywood

Jones in the Lock, Stock role that began his movie career

By the BBC's Peter Bowes in Hollywood

Vinnie Jones has swapped the football field for a Hollywood sound stage and he could not be happier.

The former Wimbledon, Leeds and QPR player is currently basking in the success of his first major American-made film, Gone in 60 Seconds.

The movie took $25.5m (£16m) in its first three days on release in the US. He appears in the fast-action film, about a gang of car thieves, alongside Oscar winners Nicolas Cage, Robert Duvall and Angelina Jolie.

When I've got lines and it's my scene I still get the adrenalin rush I had when I was playing soccer

Vinnie Jones

Jones plays a mute hardman called The Sphinx. He admits to being perplexed when he first read the script.

"I started looking through it and I thought: 'They've missed out his pages, where are the lines?'"

Jones has been praised for his portrayal of the silent character.

He says it is one of the hardest things he has done. "To try to bring him alive so that people noticed him in the movie. I looked at the Hannibal Lecter side of him - to have a presence on the screen."

Jones stars with Oscar-winning actors Jolie and Cage

Jones officially retired from football in 1999 to pursue his acting career. He says he gets similar kicks from appearing on the big screen.

"When I've got lines and it's my scene I still get the adrenalin rush I had when I was playing soccer."

But playing a mute character seems to have cramped Jones' style. "It was quite strange - not being able to get pumped up because I knew I wasn't going to be saying anything."

Mellow

Success in acting first came for Vinnie Jones as Big Chris in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

His performance garnered him numerous awards including Best Newcomer from the Odeon Cinemas' People's Choice Awards, Best Debut Performance from the Variety Club of Great Britain and Empire Magazine's Best Newcomer.

Jones and his wife Tanya have moved to Los Angeles

Top Gun director Jerry Bruckheimer spotted Jones and invited him to Los Angeles to discuss the role in Gone in 60 Seconds. Jones recalls the experience as being bizarre.

"I literally got off the plane at LA, went up to his office, met him for 20 minutes then back on the plane and home. I was in LA for two hours," he says.

Known for his aggression on the football field, Jones says his new career has resulted in mellowing.

"I've curbed it a little bit. You're not competing as much in acting.

"In soccer everything is geared to the opponents and trying to beat them at all costs."

I'm a man's man, I like going down the pub with the boys and watching the football and I can't do that any more

Vinnie Jones

Jones jetted in to Los Angeles last week to set up home for a year - a move which he says is necessary to be close to the producers and directors who could shape his acting career.

To most Americans, Jones is still an unfamiliar face. "It's nice coming here," he explains.

"You can go to a restaurant, you can walk down the street whereas at home, since Lock Stock, it's gone crazy.

"But it's quite hard over there. I'm a man's man, I like going down the pub with the boys and watching the football and I can't do that any more."

Star circles

The former football star already has a tight circle of showbiz friends. They include Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie and his girlfriend, Madonna.

"Guy will ring up and we'll go out, my wife and myself and Madonna and Guy," he says. Jones describes mother-to-be Madonna as "a wonderful girl". He says people forget that she has a personality, adding, "It's not the same girl as the public see."

Jones has just finished filming Snatch'd - the follow-up to Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

He says the sequel, which was shot in London, has all the twists and turns of its predecessor.

It stars Brad Pitt, who, according to Jones, added a new dynamic to the movie. "Brad's a bare fist fighter. He was so fantastic that you wouldn't have believed it. He actually went for it - he ended up with bruises and everything," reveals Jones.

He adds the big American star entered into the spirit of the modest British Production.

"Brad never had a big trailer - he had one half and I had the other half. He was out to the pub. When I saw him at the Oscars he said: 'Tell Guy to get me back for some re-shoots.' He wanted to do Snatch'd to be one of the guys."

Jones is adopting a modest approach to his work in Tinsel Town: "The press in England have supported me so well for coming over here. I'm flying the flag for them.

"It's taken me 16 years to get from working on the building site for £60 per week to working with Robert Duvall, Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt.

Pitt, pictured with Jennifer Aniston, proved a down-to-earth co-star

"I watch and learn, I'm just an apprentice in this field - just about on the first rung of the ladder. It's funny - I'm working with them and I'm one of their fans as well."

With a number of films in the pipeline, Jones looks set for a busy year.

"It's crazy," he says. I'm sort of frightened to stop and have a look round at what's happening. I might not be able to believe it. I'm just enjoying it. Life's a beach, as you say here."