Layer Cake (film)
| Layer Cake | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Matthew Vaughn |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | J. J. Connolly |
| Based on |
Layer Cake by J. J. Connolly |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
Lisa Gerrard Ilan Eshkeri |
| Cinematography | Ben Davis |
| Edited by | Jon Harris |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6.5 million |
| Box office | $11.9 million |
Layer Cake (also occasionally stylised as L4YER CAKƐ) is a 2004 British crime thriller film directed by Matthew Vaughn, in his directorial debut. The screenplay was adapted by J. J. Connolly from his novel of the same name. The film's plot revolves around a London-based criminal, played by Daniel Craig, working in the trade of cocaine who wishes to leave the drug business. The film features Tom Hardy, Colm Meaney, and Sienna Miller.
The film was produced by Adam Bohling, David Reid and Matthew Vaughn, with Stephen Marks as executive producer. The title refers to the social strata, especially in the British criminal underworld.
An unnamed man (XXXX), is a London underworld figure who has established himself in the cocaine business as one of the city's biggest suppliers, whilst presenting himself as a figure with legal business operations. Considering himself a businessman and a patient person, he leaves the darker aspects of the business to his henchman Morty, who had previously spent 10 years in prison for murder. Once he has earned enough to ensure his long-term financial security, XXXX plans to retire.
Approaching this point, his retirement plans go wrong when his powerful supplier Jimmy Price instructs XXXX to track down Charlie, the teenaged daughter of Price's associate, Eddie Temple, who has fled a rehabilitation centre along with her drug-addicted boyfriend. To track her down, XXXX enlists the help of two con men known as Cody and Tiptoes. To the frustration of XXXX, the boyfriend is found dead and Charlie has apparently been kidnapped, although no ransom has been demanded.
Price instructs XXXX to organise the purchase and distribution of one million ecstasy tablets from a low-level gangster styling himself as "The Duke". XXXX does not know the pills had been stolen from a gang of Serbian war criminals based in the Netherlands, who are large-scale drug producers.
Meanwhile, XXXX encounters the Duke's nephew Sidney at a bar and becomes attracted to his disillusioned girlfriend Tammy. XXXX tries to broker the sale of the ecstasy pills to Liverpool gangsters Trevor and Shanks, but they refuse, informing him of the drugs' purloined nature and of the fact that the Serbs have sent an assassin, known as Dragan, to find the pills and kill those responsible for their theft. Because the Duke had mentioned XXXX's name to the Serbs beforehand, he, too, is now in danger. Members of the Duke's gang soon start turning up dead and the Duke himself goes missing.
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