Did Taylor Swift write Argylle? Matthew Vaughn reacts to the crazy rumor
The Kingsman director’s spy comedy has spawned a strange theory. Explanations.
For several days, a rumor has been spreading on the Internet… Taylor Swift would have written the book behind the film Argyle of Matthew Vaughn !
“I’m not much on the web, so it was my daughter who came to see me and said: ‘You never told me Taylor wrote the book!’” the director says in Rolling Stones.
Indeed, the pop star’s community of fans, the aptly named Swifties, are at the origin of this incredible story. At the risk of disappointing some, Argyle is indeed the adaptation of a novel, but not written by the hand of Taylor Swiftimmediately denies its director.
“I look at her taken aback: ‘What are you talking about? Taylor Swift wrote the book? She didn’t write the book!’” replied Matthew Vaughn to his daughter. Elly Conway is in fact the true author of the spy novel. “I was laughing because I was saying to myself: ‘That’s not true! She didn’t write the book!’ But my daughter was convinced”, says the director.
The two clues that led Swifties to this theory were firstly the resemblance between the singer’s cat and the film’s furry mascot, which appears in the trailer. Secondly, Taylor Swift has previously used pseudonyms to write songs performed by other artists such as “This is What You Came From”sung by Rihanna.
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However, the original book has a much more unique story than that of the Swifties. Published on January 9, 2024, this is the very first novel by its author Elly Conwaywhose name is attributed to the main character of the film played by Bryce Dallas Howard.
Be careful, this is where you have to follow: the original novel is a pure spy book, while the film imagines the adventure of the author herself grappling with real spies after she wrote confidential information by accident in his fiction.
Vaughn therefore imagined what would happen if the real Elly Conway found herself by chance overwhelmed by her own novel, instead of imagining an adaptation stricto sensu of the real novel Argyle. The more meta you die. “There is a real book…and it’s a very good book. And there’s an Elly Conway who wrote the book, but it’s not Taylor Swift”, assures Matthew Vaughn.
Moreover, long before the Swifties theory, the author had already inspired an enigma relayed by the Hollywood Reporter in 2022. At the time of publicationArgyle, there was no information on the writer, which thickened this mystery of dazzling success for a first novel. Without even being published, his book had already been purchased by Apple TV+ for a $200 million contract with a premium cast.
When you type Elly Conway on the French internet you simply get “Elly Conway was born and raised in upstate New York. She writes her first novel Argylewhile working in the evening as a waitress in a restaurant“, via Google Books. No photo of his face appears on his very sober Instagram account, simply the promotion of his novel, his dog and his Christmas tree. To add insult to injury: his profile photo is not than an ordinary cup of coffee. Not to mention his silence regarding interview offers…
So who are you Miss Conway, whose first work seduced Matthew Vaughn who described it as “the most incredible and original spy franchise since the books of Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond)“? Are you a star hiding behind a pseudonym? A discreet novelist who values her privacy? A male writer, perhaps? Or maybe even a cat?… After the mystery surrounding Elena Ferrante, that of Elly is in full swing!
Argyle releases in cinemas on January 31, 2024. In the meantime, here is the trailer:
