Why Matthew Vaughn Calls Argylle 'A Date Movie Women Will Love And Men Will Tolerate' - Exclusive Interview
Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn has become the poster child for taking a genre and giving it a gentle spin that is both subtly subversive and unmistakably funny. From "Layer Cake," in which his drug dealer protagonist plies his trade as a respectable businessman; to the swinging '60s superheroes of "X-Men: First Class" (and the dysfunctional ones of "Kick-Ass"); to the over-the-top spy spoof of the "Kingsman" films; Vaughn adds an often gleefully sardonic subtext to his work, commenting on the genres he tackles even as he gives them a fresh look.
For his new film "Argylle," Vaughn stays within the realm of spies but — with the help of screenwriter Jason Fuchs — adds a little "meta" to it. Bryce Dallas Howard stars as Elly Conway, the successful but somewhat reclusive author of a series of spy novels based around a tricked-out, heightened secret agent named Aubrey Argylle (played by Henry Cavill in Elly's imagination). When an actual spy named Aidan (Sam Rockwell) arrives to inform Elly that her novels have come too close to the truth and that a sinister organization is now after her, her life abruptly changes in ways she never thought possible.
"Argylle," in some ways, picks up where "Romancing the Stone" and "The Lost City" left off: As Aidan, Elly, and Elly's beloved cat Alfie — played by Vaughn's daughter's cat, named Chip — run for their lives, they face a series of escalating adventures and twists that often veer into the outlandish. "I just thought ... It'd be nice to do what I call the antithesis of 'Kingsman' in a weird way," says Vaughn in Looper's exclusive interview. "Take some of the 'Kingsman' ideas, but create a whole new world that reinvents spy movies."
Making a different kind of spy thriller with Argylle
You've done your share of spy thrillers. I read you wanted to do this one for your daughters.
Matthew Vaughn: That's correct.
So maybe talk about that and trying to do something different with this genre.
Look, I'm guilty of creating some of the tropes and the cliches that we get to know in spy movies. And my girls, we watched "Romancing the Stone" during lockdown and they were like, "Oh my God, this is a great film. Why is no one making movies like this anymore?" And I went, "I don't know." And they went, "Well, why don't you?" I was like, "Okay, do you want me to give it a go?" And they said, "Please."
And I just thought, you know what? It'd be nice to do what I call the antithesis of "Kingsman" in a weird way. Take some of the "Kingsman" ideas, but create a whole new world that reinvents spy movies, but it also still loves them, and a film that I knew my daughters would enjoy. I also say it's a date movie, which I say, it's a date movie that women will love and men will tolerate.
Staging action scenes like musical numbers
It's also interesting because you have some other little genres creeping in there. I mean, a lot of the action scenes are staged, like musical numbers almost. Particularly one which I believe is called The Murder Ballet.
I didn't know that, but I'll take that from you.
That's in the production notes actually, I think. And it's a showstopper. So maybe, was that sort of the idea to have them scored and treated almost like musical numbers in a way?
Yeah. I think when you're dealing with ... What I noticed, because I watched a lot of female-orientated movies, especially spy movies and action movies, and I was like, "I think all these guys did, or the filmmakers, is just took — whether it's James and turned it into Jane — they were just changing [the names]. But the characteristics were all sort of, if you think about it, can a woman be like a man? And I thought, "Okay, so if we're going to do some action, how do I do it in a more feminine, more graceful, beautiful way?" And I don't know why I ended up with, I call it the smoke dance and ice skating. It felt something that a woman would do better than a man.
The real star of Argylle
How much of Alfie [the cat] was Chip [Vaughn's family cat] and how much did Chip refuse to do and leave to the CG team? Also, did Chip make any unreasonable contractual demands knowing that he could possibly get away with it since you're his owner?
Possibly. So as we know, well, Chip's become a much bigger deal than I would've ever imagined, but Chip is my daughter's cat. So the only demands were my daughter's demands, which was candy. So she got more candy each week, specifically a crunchy bar. And I'm a dog person with a capital D, right? So it was very strange. And the cat is definitely my daughter's cat and I was always like, "Hey Chip, how are you doing?" That was enough for me. And then Chip and I bonded making this movie and he was — I mean, look, I'm not allowed to throw cats off roofs. I probably would if I could because it's a cat, but I'd say 95% of the movie really is Chip. I think because he was the family cat, he was really relaxed, so I could put him here and he wouldn't have the need just to run off or stare.
The problem [with] animal trainers, you have the damn animal and it just looks at the bloody trainer. So the eyeline's always wrong. And I'd say, "I need dogs and I need it to look at that, not look this way, waiting for the treat." And Bryce is brilliant with cats, so they bonded and I even gave Bryce a cat as a wrap present. The cousin of Chip's now lives with Bryce.
"Argylle" opens in theaters on Friday, February 2.