Vinnie Jones has revealed he had a tearful reunion with director Guy Ritchie on the set of The Gentlemen after the pair drifted apart “through the booze”.
The actor, who played gamekeeper Geoff Seacombe in Ritchie’s Netflix crime comedy, said the pair had not spoken for a “long time” before working together again. Jones revealed their relationship had suffered after he turned down a role in Ritchie’s 2008 crime film RocknRolla, starring Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson.
Fall-out over RocknRolla role
Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Jones said: “We drifted apart through the booze.”
“Guy rang me about RocknRolla, and I was f****** drunk, and I went, ‘No, I want this, I want that.’ And Guy said, ‘Really?’ Very calmly. I went, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ And then I didn’t hear from Guy for quite a long time.”
Theroux asked Jones if Ritchie would have said he “got a bit big for your boots”. Jones, who is now sober, replied: “Yeah, exactly. Missed out on a lot, and then he held out an olive branch.
“Maybe I was about 10 years sober, and maybe that’s when he may have called me and went, ‘Okay, I’m going to give you another chance’ sort of thing. I don’t know. We’ve never discussed it. I don’t know. But he was nice enough to hand out the arm of brotherhood, because we are brothers. That was a remarkable meeting.”
Tearful reunion on set
The pair had an emotional reunion when filming of The Gentlemen began. Jones said: “We were doing the first scene on The Gentlemen. I was a bit apprehensive, and I’d gone in the trailer, and I didn’t want to go over to his trailer and all the things.
“So I thought I’d be professional. I hadn’t seen him for a long time. But it was the funeral scene in The Gentlemen. And we film it as the opening scene, first day on set. Guy is coming on set. So, we’re all stood round, I had f****** butterflies. I was like a teenager. I’m like, f****** hell.
“But I’m trying to look cool, he comes walking towards us and he just walks straight at me. Walked straight up and just went bang. F****** hell, both of us in tears. All the crew and everyone was like, f****** hell, that was a moment. Never got mentioned.
“We got on with it, and away we went. I haven’t spoken to him about that, but I know him well enough. Some things don’t need f****** talking about all the time. It’s hard telling you that.”
A representative of Ritchie has been contacted for comment.
Hollywood career and finances
Elsewhere during the interview, Jones spoke about his career in Hollywood, saying the industry is “very lonely” and “ruthless”. Referring to his finances, Jones said he “was spending it as quickly as I was earning it” while starring in Hollywood films and he did Celebrity Big Brother in 2010 to pay off a tax bill.
He said: “I had five houses at one point, and f****** Bentleys and Rolls-Royces and f****** BMWs, and they all need paying for. You got to keep going, you know. The bags get heavy, and, and the wheel gets faster. You know what I mean?
“So there isn’t real rhyme or reason to what you get. I swear to God, I turned down two million dollars last year for I’m a Celebrity.” He added: “I did Big Brother for a million dollars, but I needed it. I had a tax bill. After everyone carved it up, I actually did it for nothing. Taxman this, you owe that.”
Jones played professional football from 1984 to 1999, for teams including Wimbledon, Leeds United and Chelsea. He later moved into acting and has appeared in films like Snatch (2000), Gone In 60 Seconds (2000) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).
