Henry Cavill says Argylle is like James Bond “turned up to 11”

Cavill has long been rumoured as a potential future 007.

By Patrick Cremona

Published: Thursday, 01 February 2024 at 10:36 AM

Over the years, Henry Cavill has regularly been rumoured to be in the running for the next James Bond – and although it now seems unlikely that will ever materialise, he does prove he’s game for a spy adventure in Argylle.

Matthew Vaughn’s latest action comedy sees Cavill take on the role of the titular agent, who is the creation of fictional spy novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) in the film.

It’s fair to say that Agent Argylle has a few things in common with 007, and speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com ahead of the movie’s release, Cavill revealed he had fun playing a character in that mould.

“It’s sort of all the spy tropes, but dialled up to 11,” he said. “And that’s fun.”

He added: “I mean, there’s a lot of great franchises out there that do spies very well, and we didn’t have to tread on their toes because we were having fun this entire time!”

Meanwhile, Vaughn explained that he drew on a huge variety of spy films and franchises as influences when crafting the film – both outlandish ones and some more grounded examples.

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“This was meant to be taking all the tropes that I love from the spy world, in the sense of things which are in Bond, which are in Kingsman, which are in Austin Powers, which are in Bourne, which are in Our Man Flint – all that stuff that has sort of created what I call the cinematic version of a clichéd super spy,” he said.

“And then I thought we take that, reinvent it, and meet a new type of spy who is more based on the Le Carré version of spies.

“With a real spy, you shouldn’t notice – a real spy should come in the room, they leave [and] you don’t know what’s happened.

“Not they come in the room and they’re a great looking male model and you know what their favourite drink is. That’s sort of ridiculous, if that’s what you think a spy should be.”

He continued: “I thought, wow, this is going to be fun juxtaposing the two together. Henry Cavill on the left. Sam Rockwell on the right. And then Bryce in the middle trying to figure out how the illusion that she’s created, the fantasy and the reality smashed together to create a new genre.”