One of the most enjoyable films of 2015 was director Matthew Vaughn’s R-rated spy film Kingsman: The Secret Service. The colorful actioner was surprising, fleet-footed, and gave us a new breakout star in young Taron Egerton. While it was a gamble to make the film with an R-rating, it paid off with a worldwide gross of over $410 million. As those who’ve seen the movie know, it ended in such a way as to set up plenty of potential for a full franchise, and indeed 20th Century Fox has slated the sequel for release on June 16, 2017.
Vaughn is returning to direct, and while we’re still unclear on Colin Firth’s involvement, it’s almost enough to know that we’ll get to see Egerton reprise his role as Eggsy. And when Steve got the chance to interview Egerton and Hugh Jackman for the sports comedy Eddie the Eagle at the Sundance Film Festival (the movie was a “secret screening”), he asked Egerton for a status update on Kingsman 2, which will be rolling cameras later this year:
“With Kingsman, we’re shooting in the summer at present. There’s a script, it’s brilliant. Obviously there’s only so much I can say but what I can say is that we shot [the first] one all in the U.K., that won’t be the case with the next one. It’s a far more international story, we’re going to some incredible places, and we have a villain to rival Samuel L. Jackson—this new one is so brilliantly written I wish I could play it. It’s amazing.”
As a huge fan of Kingsman and Egerton’s performance, it’s great to hear him speak so enthusiastically about the script for the sequel. Moreover, it makes sense for the follow-up to explore the various other Kingsman sects around the world, and I’m eager to see exactly which locales will be visited. And is it just me, or does Hugh Jackman seem like a fine choice to play the new villain? If only he wasn't already booked up with that little Wolverine movie he has on his schedule.
