Matthew Vaughn
Caught off guard by “angry” “Argylle” criticism
Here, still unsuspecting: Matthew Vaughn with his wife Claudia Schiffer at the world premiere of “Argylle”.
© Backgrid
“What did I do to offend these people so much?” Matthew Vaughn was taken aback by the harsh criticism of “Argylle.”
Bad reviews and empty cinemas: With “Argylle”, Matthew Vaughn (53) landed one of the biggest film flops of the year. A good four months after the release of the spy comedy, the director has now spoke about the disaster in an interview with the magazine “Empire”.
According to the report, Vaughn was caught off guard by the harsh reviews. Test screenings that went well caused him to become “inattentive.” He knew that he had not made a new “Citizen Kane.” “It’s a fun, feel-good movie,” he said. “Or at least I thought it was a fun, feel-good movie.” But critics and viewers saw it differently.
“What have I done?”
“What did I do that offended these people so much?” he asked himself. “They were angry.” He doesn’t want to say that his film is “perfect.” “But I didn’t find it offensive.”
The devastating response made the husband of supermodel Claudia Schiffer (53) become self-critical. “Maybe I really have lost track,” he thought. He was so unsettled that he watched his film again. “I really racked my brains over it because you can’t ignore it. It wasn’t just a few bad reviews,” he admitted to “Empire.”
“Argylle” only grossed 96 million US dollars in the cinema. Too little for a budget of around 200 million. But Vaughn shot the film for the streaming service AppleTV+ anyway. And according to the “Kingsmen” director, it’s doing well there: “People like it.” The more people see “Argylle” on AppleTV+, the greater the chances of a sequel, according to Vaughn. And: “Nothing would make me happier than to make another one.” The spy spectacle with Henry Cavill (41) was planned from the beginning as the starting point for an entire franchise.