Next year, Kingsman and X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn will release his next feature, Argylle. The thriller centers on Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), an introverted spy novelist whose world is turned upside down when her fictional stories crash into her real life, pulling Elly into the fast-paced and intense world of espionage. While Vaughn is bringing an original IP to the screen, he was still influenced by other films — most notably the 1980s film Romancing the Stone.

During an interview with Collider's Maggie Lovitt at New York Comic-Con 2023, Vaughn spoke about how revisiting Romancing the Stone with his daughters not only gave them reprieve from real life for a couple of hours but also rekindled a fond memory of a date. When speaking about the date, Vaughn shared that going to see the film was his first successful date. So, when approaching Argylle and deciding what sort of movie he wanted it to be, Vaughn used that memory to try and create "a great date movie."

"And then I remembered, 'Romancing the Stone' was my first successful date. And it was one of those things, I remember going to the movie with this girl, I’ll protect their name, their innocence, and it was just funny because I went picking a movie, I thought she would like, and then I was like damn, this film’s great. So, I was sucked in and then both of us enjoyed it so much that, you know, the date continued."

Matthew Vaughn Wants 'Argylle' to Bring a Feeling of Escapism Like 'Romancing the Stone'

Vaughn's fond date memory isn't the only key aspect that matters when considering how Argylle would emulate Romancing the Stone. He shared that he watched the film with his daughters in a quest to convince them to watch something they wouldn't typically watch. When they loved it, he noted that he could do his own movie in a similar style, pointing out the "pure escapism" Romancing the Stone offered. Additionally, Vaughn kept his daughters in mind, wanting to make something they would love and that would also be a film unique to him.

"So, I just thought 'Kingsman' was to 'Bond' and 'Kick-Ass' to superheroes. What about me doing my sort of Romancing the Stone-style, it’s not an adventure movie, but it’s more spy. But what I realized is we had pure escapism. You know, we’re all in lockdown, the world was a scary place, and for two hours of Romancing the Stone, we’ve all gone on this journey. I went on this journey...I thought I wanted to do a film about escapism, which would be a great date movie at the same time, and do a film that my girls would enjoy, because, you know, they didn’t really like 'Kingsman'. They wanted me to do a softer film, I mean, it’ll still have some moments in it."

Argylle premieres in theaters on February 2, 2024. It will later stream on Apple TV+.