The Big Picture

Matthew Vaughn and Samuel L. Jackson talk about their working relationship and how Jackson, despite being called “undirectable,” understands Vaughn’s vision and is able to deliver the desired tone for scenes. Vaughn and star Jackson discuss the enduring legacy of Pulp Fiction and the impact it has had. Taylor Swift’s influence is seen in the plot of Argylle, as Vaughn drew inspiration from her documentary.

In the upcoming spy comedy Argylle, in theaters on February 2, introverted writer Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) goes on the adventure of a lifetime when her quiet getaway turns into a madcap thriller. Elly is forced to join with Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a real-life spy who strives to keep her safe after it turns out the plot of her latest book, which stars the fictional spy Argylle (Henry Cavill), is much closer to reality than Elly realized.

In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, director Matthew Vaughn and star Samuel L. Jackson talk about the enduring legacy of Pulp Fiction, and Taylor Swift’s significant impact on the plot of Argylle. They also talk about their working relationship, and discuss whether or not Jackson is really “undirectable.” Watch the full interview above, or check out the transcript below:

Argylle An introverted spy novelist is drawn into the activities of a sinister underground syndicate. Release Date February 2, 2024 Director Matthew Vaughn Runtime 135 minutes Writers Jason Fuchs

COLLIDER: I wanna throw a curveball at the beginning, which is not about this film. Sam, you have done so many amazing roles in your career, but there’s gonna be people out there that have never seen your work. If someone has never seen anything you’ve done, what is the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

SAMUEL L. JACKSON: The first thing I’d like for them to watch…

MATTHEW VAUGHN: Such an obvious answer for me.

JACKSON: I’d say a film called One Eight Seven, just because it is something that’s so different from anything else that they’ll see, in terms of who most people think I am.

And Matthew, what are you saying to recommend?

VAUGHN: During lockdown, I got my kids to watch Pulp Fiction.

JACKSON: They’re old enough now.

VAUGHN: Yeah, and they were like, “man, Sam Jackson is unbelievable.”

JACKSON: Come on! They liked Uma better than they liked everybody in the movie. They’re girls. Girls like girls.

VAUGHN: No, no, no, they loved it. They were like “this is cool.” I heard the bloody Big Mac versus Royale all the time, for weeks of them saying that. They loved Pulp Fiction.

JACKSON: That’s the great thing about that movie. There’s a certain group of kids that come of age every year, they can watch it and all of a sudden I become cool again.

I don’t mean to bring up family, but your kids are literally responsible for so many little things in this movie, including the cat backpack from the Taylor Swift documentary. Can you talk about pulling influences from what your kids have been showing you?

VAUGHN: Well, basically in the first draft, there was no cat in the film. Oh sorry, I take that back, there was a cat in the first scene, and then she goes on the adventure and leaves the cat behind. And I was working on the script with Jason [Fuchs], and I said, “Jason, they’ve gotta have more conflict, but it’s gotta be a fun conflict between these two characters. Otherwise it’s hard to go from A to Z. And then I saw the Taylor Swift thing, the cat backpack, whatever you call the thing, and that made me laugh and I went, “oh my God, I can put a cat in the back of that, and they can go on this whole adventure and argue over the cat.” So that’s where it came from. For me, it was weirdly a dramatic narrative conflicting device, and then it’s this much bigger thing.

Is Samuel L. Jackson Really Undirectable? Matthew Vaughn Weighs In
Image via Apple TV+/Universal

I was looking at the press notes and you guys have talked about, or maybe it was joking around, when you say Sam is undirectable. So I am curious, what is it actually like, because you are such a gifted actor, what is it like as a director when you’re on set with Sam, and maybe you want something else? Can you talk about that dynamic on set?

VAUGHN: Well, can you imagine if Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton came in and said, “I can do a guitar solo” and you go, “yeah, why don’t you try it like this?” Nah, let him sing and I’ll just get him in focus. we talk about it. My job is, I’ve said it before, John Houston said, directing is 90% casting. And if you get people like this, it’s 99.5% casting.

JACKSON: Once you’ve had the discussion, I understand what he’s telling me. I understand what he wants. You give me the tone of the scene and I’ll show you what I’m planning to do, and if you don’t like it before we do it, then you tell me then, or we can discuss it then and I’ll tell you why you should like it.

VAUGHN: He just nailed my point.

Argylle hits theaters on February 2.

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