Well given how much I absolutely love LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS I really can not communicate exactly how excited I am at the prospects of the same team making a second film, not a sequel, but utilizing the same talent and behind the scenes crew. We 'Yanks' will get to see L.S.A.T.S.B. March 5th, 1999, so that's when most of us will be getting excited.

SCOOP FROM HERE ON....

Some news I know you will be interested in. I had the opportunity to interview the British actor Jason Flemying last Friday. Jason, as you know, plays Tom in Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. He's in Toronto at the moment with his girlfriend Lena Headley, who's in town working on a Warner Bros. flick called Gossip.

Anyway, I asked Jason if there's any chance that the gang from Lock, Stock would be working together again, because they're all being managed by the same guy. Here's what he said:

Matt Vaughn, who's the producer of Lock, Stock, is now managing me and Vinnie [Jones, who plays Big Chris] and Vas [Blackwood, who plays the drug kingpin Rory Breaker] and Jason Statham [who plays Bacon]. So it's been nice because we've held this group together. And I have an agent but Matt's now managing us and he's pushing us in the right direction, advising us what to do next. I'll go with that for a year and see what happens.

Q: Is there any sense that you want to maybe keep that group together?

We start again in March. We're doing another film in March.

Q: The whole group?

Just about the whole group, including cinematographer, sound, the whole group. And Guy Ritchie, who wrote Lock, Stock, is hidden away at Sting and Trudie's place in the country writing, and we start pre-production in January and hopefully start shooting in March.

Q: Is that your next picture?

Hopefully not. Hopefully I'll get another one in before then. If that is my next picture, then that would be great too.

Q: Is there any title right now?

Well, provisionally it's Lox, Stock And Two Smoking Bagels (everyone laughs), and it's about a Jewish gang and a diamond heist which stems from New York. Which is great. I mean it's quite cheeky. We were talking about the press, about how they're so supportive about your first film and the next one, they'll rip to pieces. We'll just have to go with our instincts and go with it, see what happens. It would involve the same actors playing different characters in the same world. Which is cheeky but who knows. It might work.

Oh, and Harry, apparently Polygram Films will be releasing the movie March 5 next year. So there's still some time to wait before everyone is able to indulge in the magnificence which is Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels.

Call me CK Dexter Haven.