Warning: The article contains some SPOILERS for Deadpool & Wolverine.
It’s hard not to recall Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut in Brett Ratner’s 2006 X-Men: The Last Stand under the banner of 20th Century Fox. While Jones previously stated that he refused to play the character once again because it was painstakingly difficult, Shawn Levy, the director of Deadpool & Wolverine has just given a new perspective on why the Deadpool threequel ditched Jones’ Juggernaut.
Shawn Levy Revealed Why Vinnie Jones Was Not In Deadpool & Wolverine
Shawn Levy. Image Credit: Tina Rowden/ Netflix
Deadpool & Wolverine is loaded with astonishing cameos of several Marvel villains and heroes. While most actors who made their returns years after their original movies shared their excitement and enthusiasm, Vinnie Jones was not particularly fond of reprising his character once again for the movie.
Director Shawn Levy recently spoke with Variety detailing most of the remarkable cameos in the movie. “There was a brief conversation about, ‘Should we do the Vinnie Jones’ Juggernaut? Should we do a CGI Juggernaut?’” Levy shared.
Adding on the character Levy said, “Ultimately, we thought that we had enough bringbacks in Aaron Stanford, Tyler, Jen and Wesley that we thought, ‘Let’s do another variant [with a different actor] and keep it non-CGI.’ So we used Aaron Reed, who plays Dude in ‘Free Guy.’”
Jones’ return as Juggernaut would be another wild cameo and fans would have loved to watch the British actor who recently appeared in Netflix action-comedy series The Gentlemen. But Aaron Reed did a decent job in his limited screen time inheriting the trait of the monstrous character in the Marvel blockbuster.
Vinnie Jones Previously Explained His Absence From Deadpool & Wolverine
Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox
In an interview with Yahoo UK, Jones shared that his experience with X-Men: The Last Stand was so disastrous that he opted not to reprise his role as Juggernaut for Deadpool and Wolverine. Eventually, Jones decided it wasn’t worth the trouble of getting back into the suit; hence another actor portrayed the character in that film.
“I just got asked to do Deadpool, the new one now, and I spoke to the director [Shawn Levy] and I just said it’s such a drama putting that suit on mentally and physically,” Jones told the outlet. “I mean it had its mental toll as well because you’re in it and you can’t do anything all day, you can only drink through a straw. So we couldn’t strike the deal for Deadpool [& Wolverine],” he added.
But despite his stern rejection to reprise the role, Jones has no vendetta with the movie, rather, he revealed that he loved Deadpool. “But Deadpool’s my favorite movie of all f*cking time more or less,” he said adding a humorous banter, “I really wanted to do it, but they didn’t have the budget to put me in the suit.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is dominating the box office helping Marvel Studios get back on their feet following a few of their disastrous box office releases including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Eternals, and The Marvels. Starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the title roles, Deadpool & Wolverine is expected to exceed the $1 billion mark soon as the movie already claimed a stunning $850 million (per Forbs) at the global box office.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now showing in cinemas.
