Brooke Bunny
Jason Statham recently announced plans to star in a follow-up to the classic British thriller “Layer Cake”, taking over the role played by a pre-007 Daniel Craig.
Now, word from Deadline, is that “Viva La Madness” is headed to the small screen – but with Statham still attached to headline. The hourlong TV drama series based on the book by J.J. Connolly, from Gaumont International TV, marks the “Fast & Furious 7” star’s first TV gig.
“The way J.J. writes is so on the ball and authentic its hard to let any of it go. Trying to lose characters or shave down scenes every other page didn’t work, we wanted it all. The best place was a 10 hour plus show that lets you fully disappear into Connolly’s world,” said Statham.
In “Viva la Madness”, the anonymous hero, is stranded in the Caribbean itching for the criminal life he left behind–but he’s still a wanted man back home. Soon he joins forces with two robust London gangsters: the menacing Sonny King and his paranoid partner Roy “Twitchy” Burns.
“Viva La Madness, with its riveting characters and twisting storyline, is a volatile cocktail of action and comedy that only J.J. Connolly can create,” Katie O’Connell Marsh, CEO for Gaumont International Television. “Jason Statham, known for his roles in the Transporter trilogy, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, The Bank Job, as well as the recent Furious 7 and Spy, brings such strength and credibility to his characters but also has an effortless shade of vulnerability that gives him so much dimension on screen.”
