Take The Cake

After Guy Ritchie abandoned London gangster film Layer Cake in favour of his self-penned Vegas crime flick Revolver, the adaptation of JJ Connolly's novel was somewhat stuck in the mud. However the film looks set to survive Ritchie's departure and has now been plucked from limbo by none other than his producer, Matthew Vaughn. After producing Lock, Stock, Snatch and Swept Away for Ritchie (but don't hold the last one against him), the Ska Films producer will make his directorial debut with Layer Cake, a story about a ganger's attempts to leave 'the life' and hit the straight and narrow. "When Guy decided he didn't want to do it, I was putting a list together of possible directors," Vaughn told Variety. "But I had been working on it for two years and it was so in my head that I realized I should do it." Having previously had directorial aspirations, Vaughn turned to producing for practical reasons. "you didn't have to have any qualifications, just the gift of the gab and get on with it." This move could prove to be the end of Ritchie and Vaughn's partnership as, with his focus on directing duties, the latter won't have time to produce Revolver and may not return to the role for future projects. "What Guy doesn't need is another director around," said Vaughn. "I learned a lot about directing from him, and he's learned a lot about producing from me."