Apple Original Films is closing a deal on Argylle, a spy movie to be directed by Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, the Kingsman trilogy) and produced by his company Marv Films. According to Deadline, it is a one-picture deal worth $200 million, but with the potential of starting a franchise like 007.
In early July, its star-studded cast was revealed, featuring names like Bryan Cranston, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryce Dallas Howard, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and even Grammy Award winner Dua Lipa, in her acting debut, who will also provide original music for the film. This is not the first time Apple and Vaughn join forces. Last year, the major acquired the Marv-produced Tetris: The Movie, a biopic of video game designer Henk Rogers, played by Taron Egerton.
“I’m thrilled to team with Apple and bring the most compelling spy thriller I’ve ever read to the only streaming service that can create a franchise of this scale and quality for global audiences to experience,” Vaughn said last Wednesday, when the deal was confirmed by both parties.
The script is written by Jason Fuchs, marking a departure from Vaughn’s frequent co-writer Jane Goldman. It is based on a spy novel of the same name by first-time author Ellie Conway, to be published in 2022 by Transworld Publishers Ltd, a division of Penguin Random House. However, Fuchs is joining Vaughn’s regular collaborators Adam Bohling and David Reid as producer. Zygi Kamasa, Carlos Peres, Claudia Vaughn and Adam Fishbach will be the executive producers.
Argylle is just another addition to Apple’s recent big-ticket film packages, with titles like the Antoine Fuqua-directed thriller Emancipation starring Will Smith, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro, and Ridley Scott’s Kitbag with Joaquin Phoenix playing Napoleon Bonaparte.