Jason Statham To Star In TV Drama Series ‘Viva La Madness’ From Gaumont International

Furious 7 and Spy‘s Jason Statham is set to star in and co-executive produce Viva La Madness, an hourlong TV drama series based on the book by J.J. Connolly, from Gaumont International TV. A network is not yet attached.

Viva La Madness is the next installment to Connolly’s novel Layer Cake, which was turned into a movie starring Daniel Craig in 2004. Statham and Steven Chasman, who own the rights to the project, will executive produce, along with Connolly who is also set to write the series. 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.

This marks Statham’s first starring TV role. “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.

“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.”