Argylle: Henry Cavill teases unique action scenes

Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle seems to be full of mysteries, but the movie has all the makings of a highly entertaining spy caper, albeit with something of a meta-twist. Henry Cavill stars as Agent Argylle, a fictional character created by author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), but in the movie’s first major action sequence, she envisions Argylle saving her, with his image flashing back and forth with her actual protector, Aiden Wilde (Sam Rockwell).

Henry Cavill spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the action sequence, which required both actors to film the entirety of the scene so that director Matthew Vaughn could intercut between the two at will.

“Sam and I were watching each other and just trying to make sure that we had a similarity of movements,” Cavill said. “Certain movements worked better for him, so I would mimic those, and then different movements in other places worked better for me, so he would copy those. Fight scenes are tricky and complex, especially in a cramped space like that with lots of hard edges.” This method was challenging but did allow Cavill and Rockwell to share the load. “It’s quite nice doing these things when you have someone doing the exact same work as you,” Cavill said. “So I do my bit, or Sam does his thing, and the other one gets to rest. The camera moves on, and we get to have a nice break. It was definitely a new way of doing things, but I enjoyed it. It was a good challenge.“

Argylle stars Bryce Dallas Howard as Elly Conway, a 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 (Henry Cavill) 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. Sam Rockwell also stars as Aiden, a cat-allergic spy who 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.

The film also stars John Cena (Fast X), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Dua Lipa (Barbie), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and Samuel L. Jackson (The Marvels). Alfie is played by Chip, who just so happens to be the real-life cat of Claudia Schiffer, Matthew Vaughn’s wife.

Argylle will be released on February 2, 2024, followed by a streaming release on Apple TV+ at a later date.