Argylle director Matthew Vaughn has confirmed that Taylor Swift did not write the book behind the movie after several conspiracy theories positioned the pop megastar as the author.
Swifties have compiled plenty of evidence in recent months to make their case for Taylor writing the Argylle novel under the pseudonym Elly Conway. However, Vaughn has now shut down the rumours by asserting that Swift is not the mysterious author behind the book, though he admits that his daughter also believed it for a time.
"I'm not a big internet guy, and it was actually my daughter who came up to me — this is the power of celebrity and the internet — and said, 'You never told me Taylor wrote the book!'" Vaughn told Rolling Stone (via Variety). "And I'm looking at her going, 'What are you talking about? Taylor Swift wrote the book? She didn't write the book!' And I was laughing because I was like, 'It's not true! She didn't write the book!' But my daughter was convinced of it.
"There is a real book… and it's a really good book," Vaughn continued. "And there is an Elly Conway who wrote the book, but it's not Taylor Swift. And I say that because I imagine Taylor Swift has a load of people trying to jump on her bandwagon left, right, and center. I don't want to be a part of that club. I did read the conspiracies, and I was like, 'Wow, they don't leave a stone unturned!' But it's not Taylor Swift. She definitely didn't write the book."
Aryglle is the debut novel from the elusive writer Elly Conway, whose author page on Penguin Random House has very few details, with the only breadcrumb being that "she lives somewhere in the United States." The book listing on Penguin sheds a bit more light, revealing she "was born and raised in upstate New York."
It also notes that "she wrote her first novel about Agent Argylle while working as a waitress in a late-night diner," but that didn't stop the Swifties from spiralling. Fans of the singer started identifying clues that Swift and Conway are the same person on the author's Instagram page, which made its first post on Taylor's birthday.
Conway later shared a standard social media snap of a coffee break in a café, but it caught the attention of Swift fans when Caffe Reggio appeared as the tagged location. This establishment is in close proximity to Electric Lady Studios, where Swift frequently records, and Cornelia Street, where Swift has an apartment.
Other claims made to support the conspiracy theory include various links between Swift's music projects and the Argylle author, Swift's history of wearing and selling Argyle sweaters, as well as the fact that Swift is the owner of two Scottish Fold cats – the same breed as the cat featured prominently in the film's trailer.
That cat in the movie is Vaughn's own family pet, who they adopted after seeing Swift's Scottish Fold in the singer's Netflix documentary Miss Americana, so Vaughn admits that Swift – while not the author of Argylle – did play a part in how he ended up with the same cat, which in turn appears in the upcoming spy thriller.
"Ironically, what she is responsible for is the Scottish Fold," Vaughn explained to Rolling Stone. "I got home one day, it was Christmas, and I was like, 'What the f**k is that noise?' And I'm running around the house, and I hear a noise, and the kids had seen a Taylor Swift documentary, and there was a Scottish Fold in that, and they'd persuaded my wife, Claudia [Schiffer], to get them the kitten for Christmas. It was bought without my permission and hidden from me."
The cat might not be out of the bag on the true identity of the Argylle author, but the film's feline has its own Instagram page with 11K followers. They are a bit more selective about who they follow back, but a quick search of Chip the Cat's "following" list reveals that Taylor Swift is, in fact, one of the 90 they are keeping tabs on.
And, of course, the official Argylle movie account on X/Twitter is having a lot of fun playing along with the conspiracy theories. A post published on October 2, 2023, featured a lyric from Swift's pop smash Style from her fifth studio album 1989, alongside a gif of a scene glimpsed in the film's trailer.
Vaughn certainly knows a thing or two about spy movies and how to play with the conventions of the genre, having directed a Kingsman or three, and Argylle looks to follow suit with a story about author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), who finds herself thrust into the world of espionage when her book starts to mirror reality.
Conway encounters several "real" spies along the way, including Sam Rockwell's shaggy assassin Aiden, and Henry Cavill's spiky-haired titular character. Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, Dua Lipa, and Ariana DeBose also star on the cast for Argylle, which opens in theaters on February 2.
