It seems that Argylle director Matthew Vaughn isn't one to entertain the wild Taylor Swift theories popping up all over the Internet.
The filmmaker has recently shut down a fan conspiracy claiming the singer wrote the book that inspired the star-studded spy film featuring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell, among others.
Released earlier in January, the novel is penned by a first-time author known as Elly Conway. Like the movie, the story follows a spy novelist (played by Howard) who finds herself involved in a chaotic international plot together with her Scottish Fold, Alfie, who she carries around in an argyle-print cat backpack.
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As there isn't mention of Elly Conway on the world wide web, some Swifties were quick to connect the dots between having a redheaded novelist, much like Swift in her video for the ten-minute version of 'All Too Well', and the Grammy-winning artist being a Scottish Fold lover.
In her documentary for Netflix, Miss Americana, Swift carries one of her cats, Olivia Benson, in a backpack similar to the one Howard's character Elly wears in the film.
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Is there any substance to this very inventive bit of Internet conspiracy? Absolutely not, according to Vaughn.
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"I'm not a big internet guy, and it was actually my daughter who came up to me – this is the power of celebrity and the internet – and said, ‘You never told me Taylor wrote the book!" he told Rolling Stone.
"And I'm looking at her going, 'What are you talking about Taylor Swift wrote the book? She didn't write the book!'
"And I was laughing because I was like, 'It's not true! She didn't write the book!' But my daughter was convinced of it."
Vaughn insisted Conway's novel "is a real book... and it's a really good book".
"And there is an Elly Conway who wrote the book, but it's not Taylor Swift," he added.
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The Kingsman director then praised Swift fans for being very thorough when it comes to collecting clues, but did reiterate that she "definitely" didn't write Argylle.
"And I say that because I imagine Taylor Swift has a load of people trying to jump on her bandwagon left, right, and centre, and I don't want to be a part of that club," he maintained.
"I did read the conspiracies and I was like, wow, they don't leave a stone unturned! But it's not Taylor Swift. She definitely didn't write the book."
However, he admitted that Swift did play a very indirect role in his upcoming movie.
The singer influenced the choice of having a Scottish Fold in Argylle since Vaughn and his wife's Claudia Schiffer's daughters persuaded them to buy a cat for Christmas after seeing Olivia Benson in Miss Americana. And it's the Vaughns' very own Scottish Fold Chip who ended up featured in Argylle.
How long before the Internet conjures a feline meeting between Chip and Olivia Benson? We'll have to wait and see.
Argylle is set to premiere in cinemas globally on February 2, 2024, before being released worldwide on Apple TV+.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
