Meet Poppy, the sweetly-smiling but deeply sinister villain who’s aiming to burger things up for Eggsy and the gang in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It’s about to get tasty.
“She’s America’s sweetheart gone wrong,” says director Matthew Vaughn of his new villain, a criminal mastermind who runs her organisation from an Americana-heavy secret base called Poppyland; in particular, her 50s-style diner. And if your character has a touch of America’s sweetheart about her, who better to cast than Julianne Moore?
“I thought it would be fun to see her play this kooky, sweet, Stepford Wives-style villain that, at the same time, is lethal and crazy and intelligent,” says Vaughn of casting the Oscar-winner (one of four in the sequel’s cast; five if you count Elton John, which you totally should). “Julianne is a fascinating actress. She can play wholesome so well, but also pretty crazy and tough. She was in my head as I was writing.”
In fact, Vaughn says he only decided to direct the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service when Poppy, and her nefarious plot, popped into his head. “I was worried about the villain,” he says. “Spy films are only as good as their villains. What I loved about Valentine [the bad guy in the first movie, played by Samuel L. Jackson] is that his plot made sense. I’ve come up with a whole new villain plot that I guarantee people will be debating.”
We’ll find out what that plot is when Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which stars Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Channing Tatum, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal and Jeff Bridges alongside Moore, opens on 20 September.