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Bryce Dallas Howard is no stranger to staying tight-lipped when it comes to her projects. From starring roles in two twisty M. Night Shyamalan movies and the Jurassic World franchise to directing episodes of The Mandalorian, Howard’s had practice protecting spoilers at all costs. Yet she’ll ask you to believe her when she tells you that Taylor Swift did not write her new movie, Argylle—despite what some internet theorists believe.

Howard dispelled the rumor during her January 30 visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, giving Jimmy Fallon the full lowdown on Argylle, which debuts February 2. 

Helmed by the Kingsman franchise director Matthew Vaughn, Argylle is a comedic spy movie with an amazing cast: Playing Elly Conway, Howard’s co-stars include Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, and Bryan Cranston. 

“I play a spy novelist, and she’s an introvert and a cat lover—that’s actually important to know,” Howard explains. “And she has this character, Argylle (Cavill) who’s sort of like the idealized version of a spy.”

“Thinking that she’s an expert in all things espionage, she actually encounters a real spy,” Howard continues, adding that he’s played by “killer dancer” Sam Rockwell. Things get crazy for Howard’s Conway, and her cat, from there. 

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No, Taylor Swift didn’t write the Argylle script

As a vocal Taylor Swift fan who’s extremely online, Fallon had to ask Howard about a theory that’s been floating on social media among passionate Taylor Swift fans (is there any other kind?). 

“There’s a rumor that Taylor Swift actually wrote this,” Fallon told Howard. “And I’ll tell you why.”

Fallon broke down the Taylor Swift Argylle theory’s origins, joking that this was “heavily researched.” 

In Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” music video, which was written and directed by Swift, she has red hair—just like Howard and her Argylle character, Elly Conway. The short film is framed like a novel, told in chapters. 

“That’s one you go, ‘Okay, that’s a little bit of a stretch, Jimmy, calm down,” the Host admitted. “But, also, there’s a cat in a backpack in the trailer—and I think I remember seeing another person with a cat in a backpack.”

That would be Swift, who was seen carrying her cat, Olivia Benson (named for Mariska Hargitay’s Law & Order: SVU character) in a slick leather carrier in her 2020 Miss Americana documentary. 

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Like Howard’s character, “we know Taylor loves her cats. Of course, she has Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey, and Benjamin Button—I know my Taylor cats!”

So what’s up? Is there any truth to these alleged “connections”?

No. But Taylor Swift was an Argylle inspiration. 

“Let me debunk that right now,” Howard said.

“Matthew saw this image, and was like, ‘That needs to be in a movie.  Like, this situation needs to be in a movie: a woman on the run with a cat in her backpack,'” Howard continued. “So Matthew has had all of this very shrouded in secrecy. He’s probably a spy himself, or a Bond villain. I don’t know if you’ve ever met him.”

“Soo he must have been sort of subconsciously influenced in some way, shape, or form, but he had no idea of this rumor until his daughter ran into his room  and was like, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that Taylor Swift wrote ‘Argylle?!'”

Who is Argylle‘s screenwriter, then?

Argylle was written by Jason Fuchs, an actual human and not an alias for Taylor Swift. 

In addition to writing the story for Wonder Woman (2017) and scripts such as Ice Age: Continental Drift, Fuchs is also an actor. He even appears in Argylle. 

Watch Howard explain that there’s a few other Swift easter eggs—if you choose to see them, at least—in the interview above, and watch Argylle in theaters February 2.