Trailers typically give us more information about a movie. That is not the case with the first promo for Matthew Vaughn’s next film. When the Kingsman director’s spy thriller, Argylle, was originally announced in 2021, reports said it was based on the unreleased debut novel from author Elly Conway. How exciting for her, right? Maybe not. It now seems she isn’t a real person; she’s a character in the film, which follows a writer who gets caught up in her own spy story.
That sounds like a fun bit of meta-promotion for a meta-story, except, Penguin Random House has a real website for author Elly Conway’s upcoming debut book Argylle. So what’s real and what’s not? We’re not really sure! All we know is the first trailer for Argylle—featuring an amazing cast, an tense international chase, and an adorable cat in a backpack—has us ready to both watch and read this story.
Obviously we want to talk about Henry Cavill’s hair, but we need some time to fully process it. To do that we’ll probably need at least 15 years. Twenty tops.
In the meantime, Argylle looks like a whole lot of fun based on the trailer. It’s Stranger Than Fiction crossed with James Bond and Spy, all told through Matthew Vaughn’s signature style. Here’s the film’s official synopsis from Universal Pictures:
Bryce Dallas Howard is Elly Conway, the reclusive author of a series of best-selling espionage novels, whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie. But when the plots of Elly’s fictional books—which center on secret agent Argylle and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate—begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past.
Accompanied by Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a cat-allergic spy, Elly (carrying Alfie in her backpack) races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Elly’s fictional world and her real one begins to blur.
Perfect premise. But as if that wasn’t enough, the movie also stars: John Cena, Ariana DeBose, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Sofia Boutella, Samuel L. Jackson, and Chip, supermodel Claudia Vaughn’s actual cat.
With a cast like that and a story like this (written by the very real Jason Fuchs of Wonder Woman), we don’t care if Elly Conway actually exists or not. Though we would like to know for sure eventually.
Argylle comes to theaters February 2, 2024. We have no idea if the book of the same name ever will.