Matthew Vaughn on his new film The King's Man, and why 'most movies are now terrible'

Virgin Radio

6 Dec 2021, 11:37

Matthew Vaughn with Sam Pinkham and Gaby Roslin at Virgin Radio

Matthew Vaughn with Sam Pinkham and Gaby Roslin at Virgin Radio

Ahead of the release of his new film, The King’s Man, director Matthew Vaughn joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, where he gave a damning verdict on the current state of the movie industry. He also spoke about Chris’ positive influence on Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and revealed some news that will excite F1 fans.

Matthew has co-written and directed the new prequel to the Kingsman series, which is set in World War One and tells the origin story. He explained to Gaby Roslin and Sam Pinkham, who were in for Chris: “If you know the first film, there is a 40-second speech by Colin Firth, explaining to Eggsy how and why Kingsman was founded, and I just thought that would make a great film and, as I director, I needed to do something different, and I wanted to make an epic. 

“I don’t think epic films exist anymore. It’s all CG - and they’re great, I love superhero films - but they’re like a video game. So I thought, ‘Let’s go back and do something a little bit more old fashioned, in a modern manner.’” 

The King’s Man boasts an excellent ensemble cast, including Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander and Charles Dance. When Gaby asked how easy it is for Matthew to attract big stars to his projects, the director told her: “It sounds crazy, I bother writing scripts. So most movies nowadays, they just make it up as they go along. So I think that, because I can write a script that makes sense, and people know what the characters are, it’s easier for them to say yes.”

When Sam said that he didn’t understand how it could be possible to make a film without a script, Matthew responded: “Why do you think most movies are now terrible?” 

He continued: “They just throw money at it. It would be like building a skyscraper, and they have four different architects and they keep changing their mind. And they throw enough money at it that it does get a roof.

“I go to other people’s sets and they are just typing away in the morning, making it up."

Continuing to give his opinion on the current state of the movie industry, Matthew said: “Cinema is dying at the moment. Proper cinema. It’s become very formulaic, and the people that finance the movies, they’re not really interested in quality anymore. It’s quantity and streaming. 

“It’s basic economics, as well. If the people financing it aren’t interested in it being good, then the quality comes down, and there is also no metric of failure, or success, anymore. If you’re a Netflix movie, can you fail? You can’t. It just goes out and people watch it. That’s it.” 

During his interview with Gaby and Sam, the 50-year-old recalled producing Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with Guy Ritchie in 1997, just around the corner from the Virgin Radio studios in the Borough Market area of central London. He admitted that the film was given a helping hand by a certain Chris Evans: “It wasn’t going to get released, and then Chris saw it, and went bananas for it, and the next thing we were on TFI [Friday], thank god, and our box office went up and up and up and up!” 

Matthew also told Gaby and Sam about an upcoming collaboration to celebrate the release of his new film, which will see a Williams Racing show car unveiled with special film branding. “We’re doing a Kingman car with Williams next week… It’s going to have The King’s Man written all over it,” he said. 

The acclaimed director added: “I love Williams and what they stand for, and we’re just going to do a Kingsman-Williams mash-up.” 

The King’s Man is in Cinemas from Boxing Day.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.

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