Whether it’s a gangster movie, a fairytale, a comic book adaptation, or a spy series, writer/director Matthew Vaughn always makes sure to bend the rules wherever he can. And after his trio of 'Kingsman' films, the filmmaker is taking on quite possibly his biggest, and most intricate, task yet with 'Argylle'.
Based on a series of books that nobody knows about and written by an author that no one has seen (and it’s not Taylor Swift. Sorry internet), 'Argylle' is a bold, one-of-a-kind, cross-medium action extravaganza that is sure to have everyone talking and, come February 1st, will answer the burning question as to just who is the “real” Agent Argylle.
Ahead of the film’s release, Peter Gray spoke with the director about his “superpower” for spotting early, blossoming talent, his thoughts on the elaborate Taylor Swift theory, and his clue as to who Elly Conway truly is.
Based on a series of books that nobody knows about and written by an author that no one has seen (and it’s not Taylor Swift. Sorry internet), 'Argylle' is a bold, one-of-a-kind, cross-medium action extravaganza that is sure to have everyone talking and, come February 1st, will answer the burning question as to just who is the “real” Agent Argylle.
Ahead of the film’s release, Peter Gray spoke with the director about his “superpower” for spotting early, blossoming talent, his thoughts on the elaborate Taylor Swift theory, and his clue as to who Elly Conway truly is.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 - Before I get to Argyle, I just want to quickly thank you
00:04 for being one of the reasons Michelle Pfeiffer
00:06 came out of her brief acting hiatus in 2007 for Stardust.
00:11 I love that movie and I think any reason
00:13 that gets her out there is better as the world.
00:15 So thank you.
00:17 - Well, thank her for doing it.
00:19 So, you know, I'm grateful for her for jumping aboard.
00:23 - And Stardust was obviously the first time
00:26 you collaborated with Henry Cavill.
00:28 Could you sense his star power back then
00:33 and was he always your first choice for Agent Argyle?
00:36 - Yeah, I gotta say, if someone asked me
00:39 what my superpower in life is,
00:41 I would say it'd be picking young actors
00:43 that are gonna one day blossom into movie stars.
00:47 And I felt that whether it was about Henry Cavill
00:49 or Daniel Craig or Tom Hardy or Jennifer Lawrence,
00:52 like I'll go on and on and on and on.
00:54 And people go, "Well, how do you do it?"
00:56 And I'm like, "Well, just meet them."
00:59 It's obvious, but if you haven't, if you...
01:02 So Henry, I always knew would become what he became.
01:07 And on this movie, I said to Henry, I said,
01:11 "Look, I need someone who could play
01:12 like a James Bond character."
01:14 But imagine he's 50% Sean Connery and 50% Roger Moore.
01:18 That was what I need.
01:20 And I knew he could do it 'cause he's got the strength
01:22 and the suaveness of Connery,
01:23 but he can do the one eye in an eyebrow raise
01:27 in pure Roger Moore style.
01:31 So yeah, he's a lovely guy as well.
01:34 And it's a lot easier making,
01:36 working with people you like
01:37 just makes everything far more positive.
01:41 - Yeah.
01:42 And the promo surrounding this film has,
01:47 it's fed into like the mysterious of Ellie Conway,
01:50 like the novel series, who the real Argyle is,
01:53 like the Taylor Swift theory.
01:56 Like, did you expect people to run away
01:59 with the theories as much as they have?
02:02 - No.
02:03 I knew something was up when my daughter came up to me
02:08 and she's sorry, my nose, I got,
02:11 I've been traveling so much.
02:12 Sorry.
02:13 My daughter came up to me saying,
02:15 "Dad, I wanna meet Taylor Swift."
02:17 I was like, "Yeah, I bet you do."
02:19 She goes, "No, no, no, you didn't tell me.
02:20 She wrote the book."
02:21 And I was like, "She did not write the book."
02:24 And then she, I said, "What are you talking about?"
02:27 And then she showed me the whole, the online noise.
02:30 And it was really convincing enough for me to go,
02:32 "Oh, wait, hold on.
02:33 Is there something I should know?"
02:35 But she didn't write the book.
02:37 And there's just a lot of coincidences or,
02:40 but life is sometimes strong, it's strange.
02:44 I mean, as I said, and it's funny,
02:46 we were talking about it now.
02:47 I think people are asking a lot about Ellie Conway
02:50 and I'm hoping the real Ellie Conway will reveal,
02:53 be revealed very soon because I gotta stop telling people
02:57 it's not Taylor Swift to be someone who's saying,
02:59 "It is, meet Ellie Conway."
03:01 Give you a clue, Australian.
03:04 - Okay.
03:06 All right.
03:07 I mean, in typical fashion with this movie,
03:09 like nothing's as we expect.
03:11 So yes, I certainly wasn't expecting an Australian
03:14 to be mentioned.
03:15 So now that'll give me, I mean,
03:18 now I'll just look for everything possible.
03:19 Is it one of those things where are there hints at all
03:22 that you've dropped anywhere else?
03:24 - No, there wasn't meant to be any.
03:26 It was meant to be keeping it,
03:28 it was meant to be, they didn't want to be known.
03:32 Now, but the Taylor Swift thing
03:33 has put such a burning spotlight on it
03:36 that it's becoming, it feels rude not to just say,
03:41 "Here it is," but I'm not the publisher.
03:42 So this is the publisher.
03:44 If I was the publisher, I'd be saying,
03:46 "It's, boom, now bugger off."
03:49 I can't do that.
03:51 - And on the mention of Ellie,
03:53 like you start here at book number four,
03:56 was there always a reason for that?
03:59 Like, or did that happen quite organically when you were-
04:01 - Well, yeah, no, it had to be because imagine if this was,
04:04 you know, we made this, you know,
04:05 this was J.K. Rowling and a wizard had come up to her
04:08 and said, "Hey, guess what?
04:10 Magic is real."
04:12 And then she's like, "Oh my God."
04:13 And go, "And Voldemort isn't Voldemort,
04:15 but there's a guy like Voldemort and he's going to kill you.
04:16 So come with me and here's my magic flute
04:20 and we're going to fly off on that," whatever, right?
04:22 But for that to happen,
04:25 I've heard of a world-class author,
04:27 you've got to do book three or book four,
04:30 because otherwise you can't be the biggest success
04:32 even and be at a book launch and it already be massive.
04:36 But one would have made, it made no sense.
04:38 So we had to go further into it,
04:40 but there is, the book one is book one,
04:43 and it's all about how a long-haired ponytail young man
04:47 becomes a flat-top super spy.
04:49 - Yeah, I will say that that reveal,
04:53 the post-credit reveal was,
04:55 made me very, very excited for the future of this series
04:59 and whatever other series are out there, what we will say.
05:03 So, no, thank you so much for taking the time out
05:06 and yeah, just for giving us a spy film
05:09 that likes to, you know, never play by the rules,
05:12 I think, so thank you very much.
05:13 - Well, thank you, that's the,
05:15 well, I'd love that you like starred us as well,
05:17 because, you know, the logline for that,
05:19 that probably only Australians and British people
05:22 would understand when we said it's the fairy tale
05:24 that won't behave,
05:25 sounds like you understood it, so thank you.
05:28 - Yeah, thank you very much, cheers.