Lock, Stock Legends Reunite: Vinnie Jones Teams With Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham for Viva La Madness as Cast Expands

Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham are back together for a new crime flick called Viva La Madness. It is based on J.J. Connolly's follow-up novel to Layer Cake, but before you ask: no, this is not a sequel to Matthew Vaughn's 2004 Layer Cake movie. Think of it as a fresh start that borrows the next-book-in-the-series, not the continuity. I know, slightly confusing.

So... a sequel that is not a sequel

Here is the clean version. Connolly wrote the Layer Cake novel. He then wrote a sequel, Viva La Madness. Ritchie and Connolly co-wrote this new film, Viva La Madness, but they are not treating it as a cinematic sequel to Vaughn's Layer Cake movie. It is meant to stand alone, even though it comes from the sequel book. Reset button pressed.

Cast, reunions, and familiar faces

Vinnie Jones is reuniting with Ritchie and Statham for the first time since their old-school brawlers like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Mean Machine. Ritchie is also getting the band back together with a couple of recent collaborators. The full lineup so far:

• Vinnie Jones - back with Ritchie and Statham after Lock, Stock..., Snatch, and Mean Machine
• Jason Isaacs - The White Lotus, Harry Potter
• Babs Olusanmokun - Dune, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, now re-teaming with Ritchie
• Camila Mendes - Riverdale, Palm Springs
• Ben Foster - Motor City, Hell or High Water
• Jonny Lee Miller - The Crown, Elementary, another Ritchie reunion
• Raul Alejandro - La Reina del Flow

What the story is

The book jumps from London underworld politics to a bigger, messier global game: trans-Atlantic drug deals, laundering money at scale, and high-tech fraud. The tone is very Connolly - sharp-tongued, fast, and violent, with a streak of bleak humor and a little humanity peeking through.

"The anonymous hero of Layer Cake is pulled back into the drug game before he can escape to a sunny retirement."

From there, it pinballs between London low-life, Caribbean high-life, and Venezuelan cartel firepower showing up in the middle of Mayfair. If the adaptation sticks to the book's vibe, expect slick talk, sudden gunfire, and that rubberneck feeling of watching plan A collapse into plan C.

Who is making it and where

Ritchie and Connolly co-wrote the script. Jason Statham and Thomas Benski, of Gangs of London, are producing through Punch Palace Productions and Lumina Studios alongside Toff Guy Films. Black Bear is also producing and handling international sales. Cameras are rolling now in London.