STACK NZ Jul #64

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THE SECRET'S OUT Rising UK stars Sophie Cookson and Taron Egerton talk about joining KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE with Ryan Huff.

C omic book films seem to be everywhere nowadays, but while capes and tights might reign supreme at the box office, new release Kingsman: The Secret Service does more than just hold its own – it holds its own by stabbing about with a poison-tipped tweed print umbrella and letting off a few rounds from a Barrett M82 anti-tank rifle for good measure. Pure and utter madness and indulgence from start to finish, Kingsman is what you get when Quentin Tarantino and Ian Fleming have a bastard child. The film is the marriage of director Matthew Vaughn's visual stylings and the levels of ultraviolence found in the works of comic book scribe Mark Millar – as seen in the pair's previous screen collaboration, Kick-Ass . Sophie Cookson (Roxy) justifies the almost comical level of violence in the film by describing it as "incredibly stylised”, to which Taron Egerton (Eggsy) adds, “the whole thing is rooted in the ridiculous. We're not dealing with real life, it's a comic book film”. Speaking further on comic book films, he adds, “it's so in vogue, there's a voracious global appetite for comic book films. The great thing about Kingsman is that it's so much more reverent than others”. Action is just as important to a comic book film as any other component, and Egerton describes his training for the film as relentless. "I worked with an incredible stuntman and gymnast named Damian Walters, who would learn everything that needed to be done in the film and then teach it to me," he explains. "Anything that was deemed too dangerous by the insurance company, he would double me for”. Cookson didn't get off lightly, either. “Everything you see on screen, I did myself, apart from the skydiving. There was a lot of gymnastics training, a lot of core training and learning to use the rigs that Cirque Du Soleil use”. Speaking of the extended cast, including Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Caine, Egerton says, “I think the film lives and dies on the fact that Colin is the last person you'd expect to be playing this part, and that's what makes this film work, in my opinion. He's the secret to this film, there from the

a gentleman seems to be a global perception of Britishness, but it just doesn't exist. They may exist but they're off locked in towers or running the country. Most British people are just like me and Soph. It's an idea that's slightly outdated, but one that's still popular and romantic”. As for the film's tagline, "Manners Maketh Man", Egerton says “it's a universally great thing and I believe it. My mother always taught me that, although not so concisely, manners are incredibly important”. As for the villainous Gazelle's legs, prosthetics with razor sharp swords where her walking gear should be, Cookson reluctantly confirms that it was all an illusion. “Well, they are just green screen legs,” she reveals, while Egerton rubs salt

very engendering of the project.” "As soon as Colin's name was mentioned, everyone else just jumped on," offers Cookson. An overarching theme in the film relates, surprisingly, to manners. The art of being a gentleman may not seem to be the likely lesson from a film wherein approximately eight kajillion people die, but Cookson appreciates the thought that “anyone can be a gentleman, it's not about class – it's an attitude”. Egerton, on the other hand, doesn't seem to believe that the fabled gentleman, as portrayed in the film, truly exists. “The whole idea of being The whole idea of being a gentleman seems to be a global perception of Britishness, but it just doesn't exist.

into the wound. “What'd you think, they just chopped off her legs for four months then reattached them?” Sure I did. Movie magic is a marvellous thing.

• Kingsman: The Secret Service is out on July 1

JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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