Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
Produced by Gaumont International Television, a network is not yet attached.
Jason Statham is coming to television.
The Transporter actor is set to star in action thriller Via La Madness for Gaumont International Television, the company announced Thursday. A network is not yet attached.
The drama series is based on the book of the same name by J.J. Connolly and is the next installment to the author's novel Layer Cake, which was adapted for the big-screen starring Daniel Craig in 2004.
Statham and Steven Chasman, who own the rights to the project, will exec produce alongside Connolly, who is set to pen the series.
“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,” said Gaumont International TV CEO Katie O’Connell Marsh. “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.”
Viva la Madness centers on an anonymous hero who is stranded in the Caribbean itching for the criminal life he left behind -- but who is still a wanted man back home. He soon joins forces with two robust London gangsters: the menacing Sonny King and his paranoid partner Roy "Twitchy" Burns. Described as fast-paced and filled with sarcasm and humor, Viva La Madness takes place in a world of madness that somehow makes terrible sense.
For Gaumont, Viva marks its latest TV series following NBC's Hannibal, Netflix's Hemlock Grove and Netflix's Narcos, among others.
For Statham, Viva La Madness marks his first starring role on the small screen. He's repped by CAA.
