Another Slice Of Layer Cake? – Sequel Moves Forward.

During a recent slew of press calls to promote his latest film Spy, Jason Statham was quizzed over the development of a sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s highly successful 2004 gangster flick Layer Cake.

The original movie starred Daniel Craig as an intelligent drug dealer known only as XXXX and was based upon the book of the same name written by JJ Connolly. There have been rumours that a sequel was in the pipeline and now Statham has revealed that he will be taking over the lead role and that the plot will be based on the official follow-up book to Layer Cake by Connolly entitled Viva La Madness.

The plot of which rattles along like so:

From the London underworld portrayed brilliantly in Layer Cake, the plot of Viva la Madness goes international, with trans-Atlantic drug deals, money laundering and high-tech electronic fraud, described with the same uncanny believability. The anonymous hero of Layer Cake is pulled back into the drug game before he can enjoy a sunny retirement. From living the high-life in the Caribbean to a dangerous existence in London, with Venezuelan drug cartels toting machine-guns in Mayfair, the story moves from violence and farce to criminal insanity.

The Layer Cake sequel is expected to go before cameras before the end of the year and as Statham explained is a project very close to his heart, he said:

“I loved Layer Cake and this is better. The chance to work with someone of that calibre, do something back home, it’s the most exciting thing on my plate… We’re doing it next year, and its full steam ahead. We’re putting all the finance together, and we’re off and racing.”

No word yet if Vaughn will return to direct.