Matthew Vaughnis no stranger to spy movies.
Youre a connoisseur of espionage and spy films.
So what aboutArgylleappealed to you after doing threeKingsmanmovies?
First of all, lockdown made me catch my kids.
Now I could make them watch lots of films from my childhood, which theyd refused to watch.
And one of the movies that really stuck with them wasRomancing the Stone.
They were like, Wow!
Dad, why dont they make movies like that?
And I had forgotten how much I loved that film.
SoRomancing the Stonewas a really, shall we say, profound moment in my life at age 13.
But I didnt want to copyRomancing the Stone.
But then I read the first book ofArgylle.
And book one ofArgylleis brilliant.
Its coming out in January or something.
Then I saw the synopses of the other five, and I said, Lets make book four.
Book four is better for a movie… And withRomancing the Stone, they dont make a lot of those anymore, romantic action movies.
Ive called this probably more of an action-romantic movie.
[Laughs] Its got romance in it, but its got a bit of everything.
You know what it has?
Because when we were all sitting in the house together watching these movies, we were escaping lockdown.
I was like, lets recreate that feeling that they had.
Its an adventure movie.Romancing the Stone.
Im guilty of contributing to creating the tropes that we all know in spy movies.
So, I love the idea of taking some of the tropes that Im guilty of and reinventing them.
Im taken by the meta quality of this.
Its reminiscent of how you broke the fourth wall inKick-AssandStardustandLayer Cake.
Is that something that appeals to you, winking at the audience?
I cant help [it].
One day Ill try.
[Laughs]
People sayKingsmanis your Bond.
And there is obviously a large element of that, but Colin Firths playing Patrick MacNee fromThe Avengersin that.
So, if thats the case, is Henry Cavill here your 007?
Yes, I call him 007 and a half.
He would make a brilliant Bond, really would.
He was just too young at that time.
I think Ian Fleming, when he wrote Bond, Henry Cavill would have been on his mind.
This is how it is.
I was about to say, Sams won an Oscar?
Sam winning an Oscar makes me laugh.
Yeah, I love casting really good actors because it makes my life a lot easier.
And Sam excels in this movie.
This is also Dua Lipas first major film role.
This was her first film role as well.
We did it beforeBarbie.
Just to be clear.
Could you talk about what she brings to this character?
And she did an album inspired by 80s music, and I thought thats great.
It looked like a Christmas tree ornament, and she pulled it off.
So I knew she would explode off the screen; she was a delight to work with as well.
And Im like thats Dua Lipa.
You forget its her, which is hard to do when youre very famous.
You mentioned this is based on a book that hasnt been published yet.
Its a little bit likeKick-Ass.
WithKick-Ass, there was no comic, there was just the idea.
And [that happened] onKingsmanas well.
Youre playing a very famous recluse.
Because she is a recluse.
I think Im allowed to say that about Elly, because Ive never met her.
Ive never met other authors [I worked with].
I met Neil Gaiman because hes impossible not to meet.
But other authors own the rights to the book, but theyre writers.
They probably prefer email for a reason.
But Elly, shes very talented.
What do you think about people speculating that Elly is a fictional creation by you?
Well, youre going to have to see the book.
It is interesting, because Im like, Since when has anyone been interested in authors?
Like do you know who Terry Hayes is?
And he laughed and said, I wish I had as much bloody attention as Elly Conway.
Argylleopens in cinemas on Feb. 2 before premiering on Apple TV+ at a later date.
