This Wednesday, January 31, Matthew Vaughn returns to the cinema with “Argylle”, a new feature film which combines action and espionage. But did you know that there is a mystery surrounding the film? Hint: it’s about a book and a singer.
At the origin of Argylle, the new film by Matthew Vaughn, there is a novel, which has just been released. So far so good, because his previous feature films were inspired, more or less freely, by comic books. The problem is that the book in question is by Elly Conway.
Or the name of the character played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Argylle: an author of spy novels who discovers that her writings have an impact on the world of secret agents. A bit like JK Rowling meeting a real wizard, as Matthew Vaughn likes to say to introduce his new baby.
What if Elly Conway was Taylor Swift?
However, and despite accounts Twitter/X And Instagram that look fake, there is no such thing as Elly Conway. And it’s not the cover of the novel that will help us, because the part devoted to it only offers us a silhouette as a photo. It was enough to ignite the Internet, which thinks it has found the culprit: Taylor Swift herself.
Because Bryce Dallas Howard’s red hair is reminiscent of the singer’s wig from the music video “All Too Well”. And above all, the bag with a porthole, in which Elly carries her cat in the film, very closely resembles the one that the star of the song carries on her back in the documentary Miss Americana.
A feline which, to make matters worse, is a Scottish Fold in the feature film. The same breed – you probably guessed it from the way this paragraph began – as Taylor Swift’s two cats. Which is far too many coincidences and clues for the latter not to be behind the Argylle novels.
Screenshot / Universal Pictures Taylor Swift, Argylle: coincidence, influence or real link?
“I find it crazy”
Which Matthew Vaugh strongly denies. Because we asked him to help us unravel this affair, almost more complex than his own film: “There is a mystery, yes”he answers us. “The book exists and was written by Elly Conway. People wonder if she exists and I tell them a book can’t write itself. But it’s not by Taylor Swift and people in are convinced, and I find it crazy.”
“It shows how rumors can be amplified by the internet and social networks. Even my daughter is convinced of it and wants to meet her. But it’s not her, you have to believe me. There is a real Elly Conway, and time will tell. Wait a few weeks, and you will know.” We can therefore expect an announcement soon after the release of the film.
According to Washington Post, who joined an English astronomer mentioned in the acknowledgments, Elly Conway would in reality be the British Tammy Cohen, to whom we owe a few spy novels, which is rather good. And whose agent, Felicity Blunt, is none other than the wife of Stanley Tucci, who played in The King’s Man by Matthew Vaughn.
Taylor Swift, Tammy Cohen… or Matthew Vaughn himself?
But there is another, simpler hypothesis. Wouldn’t it simply be the director himself? Officially, Matthew Vaughn read the first book, Apple acquired the rights for some $200 million, and Jason Fuchs wrote a screenplay… which is based on the fourth volume, to be published, the previous ones corresponding to the stories written by the film’s Elly Conway before her life changes (when we tell you the story is complex).
Such a big check for the first novel by an unknown author is more than a gamble, even with the endorsement of the very pop Matthew Vaughn, who describes the saga as “The most incredible spy franchise since Ian Fleming“ on the dust jacket. To sell yourself better? At our microphone, the director seems to know that it is not Taylor Swift and affirms that Elly’s true identity will soon be revealed, as if he were in the secret of the gods.
And it wouldn’t be improbable. Because Kingsman is based on a comic book that he initiated while discussing with Mark Millar, creator of Kick-Ass. Argylle could thus be an extension of this method and the starting point of a multimedia franchise, where the books would be part of both the promotion and the narrative in the broad sense, which would develop on and outside the screen.
It’s not Taylor Swift who wrote the book, believe me. There is a real Elly Conway, and time will tell. Wait a few weeks, and you will know
This would be all the more plausible since the first volume is released in parallel with the feature film, and Matthew Vaughn already knows the content of the next three. It could also be Jane Goldman, his co-writer of X-Men The Beginning, Kick-Ass and Kingsman. From Dua Lipa (why not?), another pop star who plays a small role in the film. Or quite simply a marketing strategy adapted to our times and this need for virality, but that would be more disappointing.
If the answer reaches us in the coming weeks (days?), it means that we will soon be settled, and that the countdown has already begun. And maybe you’ll see clues in the film, in theaters this Wednesday, January 31.
Comments by Matthew Vaughn collected by Maximilien Pierrette in London on January 22, 2024