Vinnie Jones has clearly had enough of being the target of criticism for his performance as Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand, with the actor recently launching a scathing attack on director Brett Ratner for severely reducing his screentime, dialogue and character arc in the movie, and making it clear to fans that what ended up on the screen wasn’t what he had signed up for.
That being said, even if Jones had given an awards-worthy performance in the role, it wouldn’t have stopped him from looking utterly ridiculous under all of those unconvincing prosthetics. The Gone in 60 Seconds star is frequently held up by fans as perhaps the single worst piece of miscasting the genre has ever seen, so you can understand why he had so much to get off his chest.
However, Ratner has now responded to the criticism, and his explanation is a far cry from Jones’ foul-mouthed tirade that was making the headlines. Most people are aware that The Last Stand was rushed through production, with original director Matthew Vaughn walking away just two months before cameras were set to start rolling, leaving the Rush Hour filmmaker with very little time to put his own stamp on the material.
“In all seriousness, I shot the script I was given and I was not able to expand the role of Juggernaut as per Vinnie’s request due to the extremely limited time I had to deliver the film. I have the utmost respect and admiration for Vinnie Jones and his talent and thought he created a memorable character.”
Even after jumping in at the deep end and boarding the project so late in the day, X-Men: The Last Stand was still the most expensive movie ever made at the time, so it wasn’t like Ratner didn’t have the funds at his disposal to create something much better than what we ultimately ended up with. On the plus side, at least it saved fans from having to endure a further two appearances for Vinnie Jones’ Juggernaut, but his take on the character will always be remembered solely for his one and only line of memorable dialogue.