John Cena has seen the rumors that Taylor Swift wrote the book that is said to have inspired his new film, “Argylle.” They’re not true, he says, but he’s “grateful” that Swifties are showing so much interest in the movie.
For those who are not familiar with the rumors (and who may have missed our story explaining them), a recap: “Argylle” the movie, opening Feb. 2, stars Bryce Dallas Howard as a popular novelist named Elly Conway who is pulled into a real-life, high-stakes spy mission that mirrors the plots of her books.
As it happens, there’s also a book called “Argylle,” which its publisher, Penguin Random House, says inspired the action flick, and is written by an “Elly Conway.”
The name “Elly Conway” is reportedly a pseudonym — hence the quotation marks — and very little is known about the author beyond the verified Elly Conway Instagram page.
In the comments on the Instagram page, fans have listed various reasons they believe the book was written by Swift — including that the page’s first post is dated Dec. 13, 2022, which was the pop star’s 33rd birthday. There’s also the hard-to-miss detail of Howard’s character toting a backpack with her beloved cat peering through the bag’s window, not unlike Swift’s cat in the trailer for her 2020 documentary, “Miss Americana.”
The director of the “Argylle” film, Matthew Vaughn, debunked the “Taylor Swift is Elly Conway” theory in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, and Cena did the same while speaking with TODAY.com.
“I can’t think of a better way for people to get to know ‘Argylle’ — a movie where the tagline is, ‘The greater the spy, the bigger the lie’ — than with some misdirection, some spy-type deception. And I think it’s a perfect fit for this movie — the questions, the plot twists, the turns. I got to debunk the rumor, but I’m grateful for Taylor and her fans to be so engaged, and it really fits in with our theme.”
Cena is part of an A-list cast that, aside from Howard, also includes Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Samuel L. Jackson, Ariana DeBose, Dua Lipa and more. He plays Wyatt, the partner of Argylle, the secret agent in Elly’s novels (Cavill’s character).
Cena had been eager to work with Vaughn, whose credits include the “Kingsman” films, so he jumped at the chance to appear in “Argylle.”
