Action star Jason Statham made headlines two years ago with producer Steve Chasman upon the announcement of their acquisition of UK crime novelist, author J.J. Connolly’s 2011 literary Layer Cake sequel Viva La Madness. Since then the plan was to adapt it for film following the first film adap in 2004 which featured Daniel Craig in the role of a nameless drug dealer whose exit from the field gets a monkey wrench tossed in with Neo-Nazis in search of missing Ecstasy and a wealthy socialite’s missing daughter.
This week, reporting from THR is news that instead of the big screen, Connolly’s work is now headed to television. Gaumont International Television is producing the series with a script by Connolly himself who journeys our character from the Caribbean back in the throes of the criminal underworld thanks to two money launderers, only to see himself caught in the middle of a turf war between crime syndicates and international assassins. Toss in a beautiful woman and the usual cocktail of sex, drugs, intrigue and flying bullets and what do you have? Madness, indeed!
Statham, Chasman and Connolly are also executive producing the series while Statham is still on deck to appear in the action sequel, Mechanic: Resurrection next year prior to the eighth installment of the Fast And Furious saga in 2017.
Stick around for more info!
