Right, is Argylle based on a book? The film’s confusing marketing stunt explained

Argylle came out over the weekend – not that anyone noticed. It’s barely made a ripple despite its hugely star-studded cast, mostly because its released to a string of appalling reviews. I’ve seen it, I can vouch – Argylle is not a good film. I’ve been a fan of Matthew Vaughn movies in the past, but Argylle is not the one. But what caused the most debate, and perhaps the only interesting thing about the whole fiasco, is the bizarre marketing campaign that involves a book that may or may not be written by Taylor Swift. Okay, well it’s NOT based on Taylor Swift – but here is the full confusing marketing stunt explained on whether Argylle is based on a book or not.

SPOILERS FOR ARGYLLE AHEAD.

So, is Argylle based on a book?

Right, to answer this you need to know a bit about the plot. Argylle is a detective invented by Elly Conway – the author in the film played by Bryce Dallas Howard. The whole plot is centred on what we think is her accidentally writing the plot of a real life crime syndicate and getting too close to something. But when you search for the Argylle book by Elly Conway, you can actually purchase it. So what came first, the film or the book? Is Elly Conway real?

Via Waterstones

Basically, Matthew Vaughn and co wanted to convince everyone that it was. When Argylle was announced, the film was meant to have been based on a book by an author called Elly Conway. The Hollywood Reporter then challenged this in 2022 – bringing up the fact they couldn’t contact or find anyone called Elly Conway, and found no publisher or publicist. It was then revealed in the trailer that she was the protagonist – but of course Swiftie fans decided for a while to suggest it was written by Taylor Swift under a pen name because of the fact Elly Conway likes… cats. Clutching at serious straws.

Matthew Vaughn then came out and declared Taylor Swift had nothing to do with the book or the film, but Bryce Dallas Howard said that Swift “unconsciously inspired” Elly Conway. Okay.

In an anticlimactic resolution, earlier this year authors Terry Hayes and Tammy Cohen revealed that they just wrote the tie-in novel and released it in Jan 2024 as promo. And that’s that really.

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