Argylle: Bryce Dallas Howard Reveals Matthew Vaughn's Secret Directing Style

Just like John Cena has nothing but kind words for his Argylle director Matthew Vaughn, his co-star Bryce Dallas Howard told ComicBook.com in a recent interview that she feels like Vaughn's directorial style is "about discovery in every single moment," and that he gets the best out of his actors that way. The result of his process, according to Howard and her co-star Bryan Cranston, is that the energy on set is as electric and chaotic as the feeling you get from Vaughn's deeply idiosyncratic movies.

The key? Well, according to Howard, he teases the actors.

"He heckles you," Howard told ComicBook.com. "Yeah, Matthew heckles actors. It is in the spirit of playfulness, and to make it feel alive and persent, and the energy on set is kind of electric because of it."

"So there's a bit of chaos while we'er shooting as well," Cranston added, after a bit of comic impersonation that you should absolutely turn the audio on to see.

"And then it's really exciting, because you get pushed outside of your comfort zone, you get to explore anything. It's not about trying to be precise and get something perfect; it's about discovery in every single moment, and he really facilitates that with his heckles."

Here's (what amounts to) the official synopsis for the film: 

The greater the spy, the bigger the lie.

From the twisted mind of Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman franchise, Kick-Ass) comes Argylle, a razor-witted, reality-bending, globe-encircling spy thriller.

Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World franchise) is Elly Conway, the 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. But when the plots of Elly's fictional books-which center on secret agent Argylle and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate-begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past.

Accompanied by Aiden (Oscar winner Sam Rockwell), a cat-allergic spy, Elly (carrying Alfie in her backpack) races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Elly's fictional world and her real one begins to blur.

The top-flight ensemble cast features Henry Cavill (The Witcher), John Cena (Fast X), Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Grammy winning pop superstar Dua Lipa (Barbie), Emmy winner and Oscar® nominee Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Emmy winner and comedy icon Catherine O'Hara (Schitt's Creek), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and the legendary Samuel L. Jackson. Alfie is played by Chip, the real-life cat of supermodel Claudia Vaughn (née Schiffer).

Argylle is directed and produced by Matthew Vaughn, from a screenplay by Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman). The film is produced by Matthew Vaughn, Adam Bohling (Kingsman franchise), Jason Fuchs, and David Reid (Kingsman franchise). The executive producers are Adam Fishbach, Zygi Kamasa, Carlos Peres and Claudia Vaughn.

Universal Pictures will release Argylle exclusively in theaters on February 2nd, 2024 before it becomes available to stream worldwide exclusively on Apple TV+.