Action star Jason Statham and David Ayer’s The Beekeeper was like a fever dream of a former secret assassin operative taking down a syndicate of digital scammers. The two would work together again for A Working Man, which was a lot more grounded and straight-forward, with a script co-written by Sylvester Stallone.
Now, Deadline reports that Statham and Ayer are ready to collaborate yet again for John Doe, which is scripted by Zak Penn (Ready Player One, The Avengers, Free Guy). Statham will be the titular John Doe and the film tells the story “of a man with no memory, no past, and no name — and only one face he can’t forget: Eliza. As fragments of his identity return, he discovers he was trained for a mission still in motion and is being hunted by the very people who sent him. With enemies closing in, John must choose between finishing what he started… or protecting the one thing that makes him feel human: love.”
The movie comes from Miramax and Black Bear. Statham will also be producing the movie for his Punch Palace Productions. Additionally, Paul Schiff and Zak Penn are also on board as producers. Miramax and Black Bear also produced both Statham and Ayer’s previous two films.
Statham is also slated to work with Guy Ritchie again, who both will also be reuniting with Vinnie Jones for Viva La Madness. The cast will also include Jason Isaacs (White Lotus, Harry Potter), Babs Olusanmokun (Dune, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), Camila Mendes (Riverdale, Palm Springs), Ben Foster (Motor City, Hell or High Water), Jonny Lee Miller (The Crown, Elementary), and Raúl Alejandro (La Reina del Flow).
Here’s a synopsis for J.J. Connolly’s Viva La Madness, courtesy of Amazon:
“Connolly is back with a sequel that sees him on the same stunning form, with his trademark razor-sharp dialogue and quick-fire violence, but also finding dark humor and pathos in the lives of violent men. From the London underworld, Viva la Madness moves to international crime with trans-Atlantic drug deals, money laundering, and high-tech electronic fraud, portrayed with the same uncanny believability. The anonymous hero of Layer Cake is pulled back into the drug game before he can escape to a sunny retirement. In a dazzling combination of London low-life, Caribbean high-life, and Venezuelan drug cartels toting machine-guns in Mayfair, our hero’s voice and mission are authentic, thrilling, and whiplash-inducing in equal shares.”
Jason Statham and Thomas Benski (Gangs of London) lit the fuse for Viva La Madness, with the duo set to produce through Punch Palace Productions and Lumina Studios alongside Toff Guy Films. Black Bear will also produce and oversee international sales. Production is currently underway in London.