New spy thriller Argylle promises to be a must-watch as a curious backstory surrounding the book it’s supposedly based on promises plenty of twists ahead.
The first trailer has dropped for the upcoming spy movie Argylle, which is set to feature an all-star cast and more mind-bending twists than you can shake a stick at. The biggest twist of all is the fact that Argylle is supposedly based on a book, one that hasn’t been released yet and whose author is a character within the film itself.
Argylle trailer drops and promises twists at every turn
Released on Thursday, September 28, 2023, the first teaser trailer for Argylle exploded onto the internet, teasing a James Bond-esque spy movie starring Henry Cavill as its titular agent.
However, as the film comes from director Matthew Vaughn of the Kick-Ass and Kingsman franchises, nothing is quite as it seems.
After showcasing John Cena and Dua Lipa’s roles, in a surprise Barbie reunion, the trailer takes a wild turn as it transpires that Argylle is little more than a character in a series of spy novels written by author Elly Conway, played by Bryce Dallas Howard.
If that twist wasn’t already enough to get your head around, the trailer then reveals that the author’s latest book has come to life and inspired an espionage incident within the real world, prompting a global cat-and-mouse chase – quite literally as Elly’s cat tags along for the ride – as she joins forces with Sam Rockwell’s Aiden, a spy who helps her flee from the army of pursuing agents.
Argylle is based on a book that doesn’t exist yet by a mysterious first-time author
Argylle’s journey to the screen has been an incredibly curious one, most notably as the film is supposedly based on a book by a real author named Elly Conway.
In a modern world where everyone leaves a digital footprint, Elly Conway remains mysteriously anonymous, with her bio on Penguin Books only revealing that she lives in the United States. Beyond that, the author also has an Instagram account but there are no posts to speak of.
Not only that but the spy thriller, Conway’s debut novel, has not even been published yet and has an imminent film adaptation on its way, with the book currently slated to release in January 2024, a month before the movie hits screens.
Despite the fact that the novel has yet to land on bookstore shelves, Apple Studios were apparently confident enough to splash $200 million to buy its film rights – an astronomically insane amount, especially when compared to the $250 million Amazon spent to acquire the television rights for The Lord of the Rings, one of the biggest and most beloved fantasy franchises in history.
Theory: What on earth is going on?
The curious backstory behind the Argylle book screams to us of being an incredibly ambitious and well-thought-out marketing strategy.
We at HITC believe that the Argylle book that is supposedly coming out is a meta companion piece to the film, rather than an original novel.
This would mean that its author, Elly Conway, doesn’t exist in the real world and is simply a character from the movie that has been brought to life to blend the fictional world of Argylle with the real world – much like what we see happening in the trailer.
We suspect that the eye-watering $200 million ‘rights deal’ is actually just the budget for the film and the figure is being bandied around to attract attention surrounding the movie ahead of its release.
Whether our theory proves true remains to be seen but one thing is for certain, Argylle has most definitely piqued our interest.
Argylle is set to release in theaters on February 1, 2024, and will arrive on Apple TV+ at a later date.