Take a look at me now

Vinnie Jones left football for Hollywood, but, as BBC Sport Online's Charlie Henderson found out, the former Wimbledon hardman is returning to his roots.

Vinnie Jones is a man who looks forward not back.

But the latest venture for the footballer turned film star is like something out of Back to the Future.

After spending years on the small screen as a footballer the former Welsh international is coming to the big screen as... a footballer.

It is four years since Jones hung up his boots for the boards, and although he's rarely out of the limelight, a life under the spotlight rather than the floodlight does give him more free time.

Take one: Jones took no prisoners on the football pitch

He gets time to follow his passion in horse and greyhound racing and is also trying to get his golf handicap down.

"I've been out playing some rounds in Barbados recently, but the director's not too happy about the tan," Jones explains.

He has a point. Bronzed footballers behind bars are not exactly common - at least not in Oxford.

"It's a re-make of the old Burt Reynold's film the Mean Machine," Jones explains of his latest venture.

In the 1974 original Reynolds played Paul Crewe, a former quarter-back star who finds himself doing time for a car theft.

Jones is giving it an English twist in his first leading role since his acting debut in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

"I'm just about to start filming for two months, six days a week and things are looking great.

"We'll start off in London and then we'll be in Oxford filming in a prison."

  Vinnie Jones factfile

Born: 5 January 1965

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Football career

1986-89: Wimbledon

1989-90: Leeds United

1990-91: Sheffield United

1991-92: Chelsea

1992-98: Wimbledon

1998-99: QPR

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Film career

1998: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

1999: Gone in Sixty Seconds

2000: Snatch

2001: Swordfish

Jones is adamant that a return to football, of a type, will not whet his appetite for a return to the sport he graced for 14 years.

"I've only ever gone back to something once in my life and that was to Wimbledon.

"The only reason I went back was for Joe Kinnear. I had a great time getting to two semi-finals in one year,
but now I've gone beyond football.

"I like watching but apart from that football's well and truly behind me," the 36-year-old explains of a sport in which many ex-players of his age are trying their hand at management.

But one of the more recent managerial appointments has had an impact on him.

"Watford's my club, the family have been going for years, and with Gianluca Vialli coming in it's a great step forward - it's awesome for the club.

"Graham Taylor and Elton John have done a fantastic job for the club over the years.

"It was nice that Graham came back for a couple of years and I went to see his last home match - it was emotional."

Take two: Jones shows a lighter side with colleagues in Hollywood

The notion of taking the reins at Vicarage Road did not even cross his mind as Jones is happy forging a path in his new career.

"There's always exciting things going on in Hollywood and there's no need to go out training on cold, wet mornings anymore."

Jones almost stepped down that route but was over-looked for the assistant manager's job at Queens Park Rangers.

Iain Dowie was given the job and Jones is convinced that even if it was taken out of his hands it proved to be the right career decision.

"I regret that I didn't have the chance to be a manager and call the shots but as it happened when Iain took over and walked into his office in Ealing I was walking out in Hollywood."

Rangers are now down and Dowie's out of a job but for Jones things are looking up even if he is about to spend a couple of months behind bars.