I hope you’ve left room for cake, because Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie are getting back in the kitchen for an action-thriller that could be a sequel to 2004’s Layer Cake, titled Viva La Madness.
According to Variety, the duo’s sixth film is based on J.J. Connolly’s novel and the author’s sequel to Layer Cake. However, before you start getting excited, it’s worth noting that this new film is billed as a stand-alone, original feature and not a sequel, spinoff, or continuation of Connolly’s previous work. Where does that leave us? That’s for you to decide.
Variety says 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 kicks into high gear in January of next year, with Statham starring while Ritchie writes and directs the mysterious project.
Layer Cake is about a successful cocaine dealer (Craig) who has earned a respected place among England’s Mafia elite and plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy’s old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds’ worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect, and a whole series of double crossings.
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.”
Statham owes much to Ritchie after the filmmaker helped launch his career with 1998’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Since the cult crime comedy’s release, Statham and Ritchie have collaborated on films such as Mean Machine, Revolver, Snatch, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, and Wrath of Man.
What do you think about Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie activating their Wonder Twin powers for Viva La Madness? Let us know in the comments section below.
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