EXCLUSIVE: Catherine O' Hara talks about her role in Argylle, director Matthew Vaughn calls her 'incredibly talented'

In an exclusive conversation with Pinkvilla, actress Catherine O' Hara and director Matthew Vaughn spoke about their highly-anticipated upcoming movie Argylle.

By Barsha Roy

Updated on Jan 27, 2024 | 10:16 AM IST | 178.8K

Argylle is set to hit the theatres next month (Pic Courtesy: Warner Bros. Discovery)

Matthew Vaughn, the director behind popular movies like Kick-Ass, Stardust, and the Kingsman franchise, is creating a lot of buzz with his upcoming film Argylle. This highly anticipated spy thriller promises to be a clever and mind-bending adventure that will entertain audiences worldwide.

The film features a stellar ensemble cast that includes Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L Jackson, Bryan Cranston, Ariana DeBose and Grammy Award-winning music artist Dua Lipa. Ahead of the release of the film, Pinkvilla got in touch with the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress O’Hara to talk about her role as well as director Vaughn about his dream casting choice.

A still from Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle (Warner Bros. Discovery)

Catherine O'Hara discusses her role in Argylle

In Vaughn's latest venture, comedy icon Catherine O'Hara plays the role of protagonist Elly Conway's long-suffering mother and de facto book editor, Ruth. While the latter is proud of her daughter’s success, she is also concerned about Elly’s obsessive devotion to her fictional world. In an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, O'Hara discussed how her character Ruth adds depth to the film's narrative.

"Ruth is Elly’s loving mother. She’s also very controlling, rigidly guiding her daughter’s life, prodding her to just stick close to home and work on her spy novels," the Schitt's Creek alum stated. The actress also mentioned that she loved how the film’s tone and the audience’s expectations of the characters keep shifting and evolving through the screenplay. Speaking about the script of the film O'Hara further added, "Every twenty pages another anvil drops. It’s really exciting, and I couldn’t stop reading." The Beetlejuice star also spoke about working with director Vaughn and said that it was "really fun" to see him in action, "especially while directing his amazing stunt men and women."

Argylle Director Matthew Vaughn talks about working with Catherine O'Hara

Director Matthew Vaughn showered praises on O'Hara and called her a dream casting choice for Argylle. "I loved Catherine O’Hara in Home Alone, and being a ‘80s boy, I thought it would be a nod to all the movie influences of this film," the X-Men: First Class creator said. He also said that the actress is "not only very funny but also an incredibly talented."

Speaking about the cast, Vaughn said that he needed actors who could "switch between humor and seriousness within the same take" in a seamless manner. While he mentioned that not many actors "can do that or handle the multi-tonal shifts that occur even within a single scene, the director noted that O'Hara "was exceptional in this regard." Vaughn also shared that the After Hours star "trusted the process," which made her "a perfect fit for the role."

About Argylle

Argylle, directed by Vaughn, revolves around 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. However, when the plots of her fictional books, which centers on secret agent Argylle and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate, starts to mirror the hidden actions of a real-life spy organization, Elly's quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past. Joined by Aidan, a cat-allergic spy, Elly travels across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between her fictional and real-world begins to blur and become one.

The film features Dallas Howard as Elly, Cavill as agent Argylle, Cena as Wyatt, Argylle's best friend, DeBose as Keira, their fearless field tech, Richard E Grant as Fowler, a senior member of agent Argylle’s organization, and Dua Lipa as Lagrange, Argylle’s lethal nemesis. Argylle is all set to release in the US and India on February 2, 2024.