Vinnie Jones has revealed he had a tearful reunion with The Gentlemen director Guy Ritchie on set after they didn't speak for 10 years due to a fallout.
The actor, 61, said he believes Guy, 58, distanced himself during his alcohol battle and only gave Vinnie another chance once he'd been teetotal for a decade.
The call came when Guy began planning his Netflix series and Vinnie signed on to play the role of the long-serving gamekeeper of Halstead Manor, Geoff Seacombe.
Recalling how Guy told him about the part in the series, Vinnie told Louis Theroux on his podcast: 'I was literally 500 meters from here and got a call out of the blue,
'What are you doing?' And I think that he said, 'I might have something for you.' 'Oh, yeah, what's that?' 'Talk to you later', and put the phone down.
Vinnie revealed that he and Guy drifted because of 'booze' after he answered the phone to discuss Guy's film RockNRolla 'drunk'.
Vinnie Jones has revealed he had a tearful reunion with The Gentlemen director Guy Ritchie on set after they didn't speak for 10 years due to a fallout
He continued: 'So then I'm looking, what's he doing, what's he doing? Because we drifted apart through the booze. […]
'Guy rang me about RockNRolla, and I was f*cking 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.'
Louis replied: 'Really? So he'd say you'd got a bit big for your boots.'
Sharing more details about Guy's 'olive branch,' he said: '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. '
Vinnie said he felt 'apprehensive' about his first day on set but revealed how the Snatch director put him completely at ease.
He said: 'He was nice enough to hand out the arm of brotherhood, because we are brothers. That was a remarkable meeting. We were doing the first scene on The Gentleman. 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 Gentleman. […] 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*cking butterflies. I was like a teenager. I'm like, f*cking hell.
The actor, 61, said he believes Guy, 58, distanced himself during his alcohol battle and only gave Vinnie another chance once he'd been teetotal for a decade
'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*cking hell, both of us in tears. All the crew and everyone was like, f*cking 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*cking talking about all the time. It's hard telling you that.'
The cast of The Gentlemen reunited to film series three on Monday – but there was no sign of the Duchess of Sussex on set.
In August, it was reported Meghan Markle was in preliminary talks over a possible role in the third series of the Netflix crime drama.
Meghan, 45, is reportedly determined to return to acting while continuing to run her As Ever business.
However a row over Guy's hit series emerged after the duchess was said to have felt 'used' following the speculation she was to join the cast.
Filming for the new series has now started and Vinnie, Kaya Scodelario, 34, and Theo James, 41, were seen on set for the first time.
The gang were seen dressed in their costumes and marched through the streets of London as the cameras rolled.
The trio are the key characters navigating an aristocratic estate tied to a massive criminal underworld.
Director Guy was said to have held preliminary talks with Meghan, although he apparently responded 'really?' and 'not a chance' when asked about the prospect of the former Suits star appearing in the show.
And a source close to its production team bluntly insisted the series did not need 'stunt casting' to succeed. It followed leading stars such as Theo and Ray Winstone appearing incredulous at suggestions the duchess could join a future series.
In August, it was reported Meghan Markle was in preliminary talks over a possible role in the third series of the Netflix crime drama
Meghan is said to have been hurt by the ordeal and now plans to be more selective about scripts, amid concerns producers could use the prospect of her involvement as a PR coup to generate interest.
Insiders on The Gentlemen have dismissed claims the streaming giant 'used' her to promote its new season.
The gulf between First Division football (as it then was) and A-list television might seem unbridgeable, but a closer examination of Vinnie's career reveals how his persona on the field – and his frequent violence off it – made the transition possible.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, his penchant for fights was so notorious that many people expected his footballing days to end in prison.
In 1995, after a riot in Dublin forced the cancellation of an Ireland-England game, he attacked a Fleet Street reporter in a pub and sank his teeth into his nose. 'Vinnie Jones Bites Newsman' read the Daily Mail's headline.
Vinnie said he was so ashamed of his behaviour, he contemplated suicide. But three years later, he was charged with assault and criminal damage after a row with a neighbour turned violent.
Vinnie believed the man, a 27-year-old riding instructor named Timothy Gear, damaged a stile on his farm.
'He told me if he was to catch me riding up there,' Gear told the court, 'he would shoot the horse and if I was in the way he would shoot me too.'
Hammering on the door of Gear's mobile home, Vinnie smashed a window and, when his victim opened the door, punched him in the face, pushed him backwards into his bedroom and sank his teeth into his scalp.
Incidents like that earned Vinnie the nickname of 'The Human Rottweiler'.
He admitted his seething anger was due in part to heavy drinking but also blamed his parents' break-up. Born in a bedsit in Watford in 1965, he grew up a keen footballer until he went off the rails aged 14, after his mum and dad split. His father, Peter, a builder and gamekeeper, began bringing women home. 'It made me so angry. Without my mum, there were no boundaries, so I just rebelled.'
He left home aged 16 after a row and found work as a groundsman at a public school in Hertfordshire. Marking out the lines on the pitch, he used to pray to his dead grandfather to help him make a career in football.
His prayers were answered when the manager of non-league Wealdstone FC, whose players trained on the school pitch, invited him to join in a game. That led to a place in the squad, before Wealdstone sold him, aged 21, for £10,000 to Wimbledon.
'I was older than most so I knew I had to work harder,' he said. 'My life up until then had been such a struggle that when I got the chance, I made my mind up I wouldn't fail.
'Playing football gave me some self-respect. Without it, I'm sure I would have ended up in and out of prison.'
He revelled in his reputation as a bovver boy, putting his name and his voiceover to a video celebrating football's nastiest fouls… and telling young players how to get away with them. The FA fined him £20,000 for that.