Argylle Director Matthew Vaughn Reveals Who Owns The Cat And Why It's Important - Exclusive

The new spy thriller "Argylle" may boast a stacked cast that includes Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Ariana DeBose, and Samuel L. Jackson, but as even just a glance at the film's marketing can confirm that it's clear who the real star of the show is: Alfie the cat, played by a feline named Chip.

In the Matthew Vaughn-directed film, Alfie is the beloved pet of Elly Conway (Howard), whose best-selling espionage novels turn out to somehow come a little too close to the truth. That sparks off a worldwide chase in which Elly and a spy named Aidan (Rockwell) are pursued by a shadowy agency known only as the Directorate, which wants to silence her before she completes her new book.

Since Elly is traveling by train to see her parents when she's intercepted by Aidan, she happens to have Alfie along for the ride in his custom backpack complete with a window. The hapless cat gets dragged into the adventure along with his owner and her would-be protector — who happens to be allergic to cats (with the feeling reciprocated) — yet manages to help his human through a few scrapes along the way.

Although the production initially hired a professionally trained cat to play Alfie (whose grumpy visage has been all over the film's trailers and posters), the feline apparently didn't perform as required and Vaughn was forced to improvise with an unexpected substitute. "Chip is my daughter's cat," the director tells Looper in our exclusive interview. "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."

When the professional cat hired for "Argylle" proved uncooperative, director Matthew Vaughn turned in desperation to his own home and his daughter's cat, Chip, part of a litter that Vaughn's wife ("Argylle" executive producer Claudia Vaughn) had brought home sometime earlier. The only question was, would Chip make unreasonable demands knowing that his owner's dad was in a bind?

"The only demands were my daughter's demands, which was candy," laughs Vaughn. "And I'm a dog person with a capital D, right? So it was very strange. 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."

Vaughn adds that while a CG cat was used in some instances — most notably in a scene where Aidan hurls him (safely, as it turns out) off a roof — Chip actually did a lot of his own work in the film. "I mean, look, I'm not allowed to throw cats off roofs," concedes Vaughn. "I probably would if I could because it's a cat, but I'd say 95% of the movie really is Chip."

Ultimately, having Chip play Alfie was a successful gambit. "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," says Vaughn. "The problem about [using] animal trainers, you have the damn animal and it just looks at the bloody trainer. So the eyeline's always wrong." There was an additional bonus as well: "Bryce is brilliant with cats, so they bonded and I even gave Bryce a cat as a wrap present. Chip's cousin now lives with Bryce." 

"Argylle" is in theaters now.