The SPY’S the LIMIT!
Watch out Mr Bond, Kingsman and Co are hot on your heels...
Matthew Vaughn, the brains behind the Kingsman films, hopes to turn its prequel — the King’s Man — into a spy franchise to rival the James Bond pictures.
Vaughn’s terrific new movie, set during the start of world war I and starring Ralph Fiennes and Gemma arterton, is due to open in cinemas on September 18. But he is still deciding whether to continue it as a bigscreen series — or to turn it into a television drama.
Both options have their merits. ‘If we go down the TV route we can explore the rise of hitler, then go into world war II. Or go back in time and look at the original Great Game,’ Vaughn explained, referring to the intense, decades long stand-off between Great Britain and Russia regarding afghanistan and India in the 19th century.
‘For me, it would be amazing to finally get to the Cold war,’ he continued, warming to his theme. though by the time the show reached that point, Fiennes’s character Orlando, the Duke of Oxford, would be well into his dotage. Or dead.
arterton’s quick-witted espionage agent Polly watkins might, possibly, still be around, but probably too old for active duty.
the King’s Man film is an origin story for the two Kingsman movies — 2014’s the Secret Service and 2017’s the Golden Circle — which starred Colin Firth and taron egerton as, respectively, Kingsman secret service operative harry hart and eggsy, the cheeky-chappie Cockney recruited to infuse the agency with new blood.
a third Kingsman film has been written and could start shooting, with Firth and egerton, late next year or in 2022. ‘It would bring to a conclusion the harry and eggsy relationship,’ Vaughn said.
Returning to the King’s Man, the producer-director told me that if it does become a TV production, he wants it to have the most diverse cast imaginable. ‘I want black dukes and duchesses and lords and ladies. Let’s shake up the establishment!’ he declared. ‘even if it’s fiction.’