‘I love that no one knows what’s going to happen’
◆ Director Matthew Vaughn and stars Henry Cavill and Sam Rockwell talk to Rachael Davis about spy thriller Argylle
Meta, meta, meta” is how Matthew Vaughn describes his muchanticipated new spy thriller,
Argylle.
As ever with a movie by Vaughn, whose back catalogue includes the Kingsman films, Kick-ass, Layer Cake, and producer credits on Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Argylle brings twists, turns and deliciously choreographed action scenes a-plenty, with a rollercoaster plot that keeps fans guessing until the end.
When we meet Elly Conway, played by Jurassic World’s Bryce Dallas Howard, she’s an enormously successful, if reclusive, author of a series of espionage novels about Agent Argylle, who’s portrayed in the film by Superman actor Henry Cavill, and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate.
She spends cosy evenings at home with her cat Alfie, sipping a cocktail and working on a new manuscript – until everything turns upside down and her life ends up more like that of her beloved Argylle.
As events in Elly’s books begin to bear a striking similarity to the covert actions of a real-life spy organisation, she’s brought closer to the action than she’d ever have dreamed as she joins spy Aidan – played by Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell – on a whirlwind international mission to stay one step ahead of the criminal killers.
“It came about (with) me, first of all, watching, with my daughters, Romancing The Stone and these great 80s adventure, feelgood, couple-onthe-run type movies – and then I met Jason (Fuchs, writer), and Jason had the idea for the script, then we found a manuscript of the book,” explains Vaughn, 52.
“I thought, let’s do a movie about a real book, a real writer, and we had reality and fiction collide, but by them colliding, you’d have a new sort of illusion of reality. It all does make sense once you get to the end.”
At the heart of the story, of course, is Cavill’s Agent Argylle. With his striking haircut, exquisite suits, handsome looks and charming demeanour, he is, in many ways, the quintessential spy – and Cavill loved leaning into that.
“He is a classic spy in many ways, but he’s also turned up to 11, and that’s what made it fun,” says Cavill, 40.
“He takes himself very seriously, but the tone of the movie is that you’re not taking him seriously.
“It’s a fun line to tread, because you don’t want to be too slapstick, but you
don’t want it to come across too genuine and realistic, either. Because it ruins the joke.”
Creating a film within a film – blending the fictional story of Agent Argylle with the ‘real world’ story of Elly Conway – is no mean feat. Vaughn says he was careful to maintain the right tone through the palette of the film, ensuring that above all, both worlds were fun to be immersed in.
“This is about escapism, it was about being feelgood: warmth, colour, happiness, fun. The world’s a sad, dark place we live in, so I wanted to be literally a ray of sunshine in darkness. So that was the palette that we went for,” the director explains.
“And then we had different looks, depending on which part of the movie you’re in. So when we were in the fantasy spy world, (we) really dialled up the glamour and the glitz of it, and then when we’re in the real world, we call it gritty glamour, we tried to come up with.”
Of course, you don’t have a spy film – much less a Matthew Vaughn spy film – without excellently choreographed action sequences.
Vaughn wanted the action to be “beautiful action, and softer, sort of like a ballet”, which the stars loved getting stuck into.
Cavill says building the audacious fight sequences – which often blend the ‘real world’ with Argylle’s world in wonderfully creative ways – was “really good fun”.
“It’s very hard to build a concept like that because it is new, and no one’s done it before, no one’s shot it like that before,” he says. “But if you have a good team, like we had, it makes it fun.
“I mean, you could tell from the scene in Kingsman, in the church with Colin
Firth, that you’re in good hands,” adds Rockwell, 55.
“It’s the same team, and Henry knows what he’s doing, based on the scene in Mission Impossible. So you know it’s going to look cool.”
Alongside the ballet-like action sequences is some actual dancing – most memorably the Whirly Bird move performed by Cavill and Dua Lipa, who plays Argylle’s beautiful nemesis.
“It takes two to Whirly Bird,” Cavill jokes.
“I think it might have been harder for Dua to do, actually, rather than me,” he says – Lipa needed to hold her legs astride Cavill’s shoulders as he lifted her and spun, which is impressive to witness.
“I mean, yes, there’s the physicality of picking someone up, but that position to hold is very, very difficult. And she did it without a single complaint.”
“And they’re both spinning, so imagine that!” adds Rockwell.
“It gets a little dizzy.”
If you’re still wondering how all of this – the action, the spies, the dancing, the glitz and glamour – ties together into a movie, that’s exactly how it should be. Argylle’s trailer urges fans not to “let the cat out of the bag”, as the twists, turns, red herrings, double bluffs and meta nature of the film are best enjoyed without any preconceptions.
“I love that no one knows what’s going to happen. That’s my favourite bit,” says Cavill.
“So often these days when watching trailers, we know what’s going to happen just by the trailer. This one gives you the tone of the movie, but doesn’t tell you what’s going to happen.
“So that’s fun.”
The world’s a dark place, so I wanted to be literally a ray of sunshine in darkness