One of the great things that Kingsman: The Secret Service did was give us a very modern twist on the classic Bond villain. Samuel L. Jackson played Richmond Valentine as a kind of insane spin on Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, someone who enacted their evil scheme through cell phones and technological implants. The upcoming sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, will hopefully match him with Julianne Moore’s Poppy. Up until now, we haven’t heard a great deal about the character, but director Matthew Vaughn has finally shed some light on the uber-villain.
When EW spoke to the filmmaker in a recent interview, he gave them a memorable one sentence summary of Poppy. Apparently, she’s “Martha Stewart on crack.” More specifically, Poppy is a ruthless, psychotic entrepreneur with an obsession with 1950s Americana.
The Golden Circle will see her construct a recreation of a Happy Days type town in the middle of a jungle. She funds her bizarre goal with the money she makes from her domination of the drug trade. Furthermore, clues to her secret business can be found in both her name and the movie’s title – a nod to The Golden Triangle opium trade.
“It’s her beloved Americana that she would like to bring back again. She’s taken over the global drug business and wants to be on the Forbes list,” said Vaughn.
Just as The Secret Service raised a real world discussion – overpopulation – and turned it into the crux of a villainous plot, The Golden Circle will see Poppy aim to legalize drugs worldwide.
“She has a speech where she goes, ‘Sugar is 10 times more addictive than cocaine. It causes more death and misery in America. Yet one is legal. Peddle that s— and you’re in the Forbes 500. Peddle coke and you’re in jail. What the f—!’ So the points she’s making are not insane… [Though] her solutions definitely are.”
So, how does Vaughn keep coming up with such great villainous schemes? Here’s what the director had to say:
“The best villains have plotlines which would actually seem like half-decent ideas, if they weren’t so crazy. They have a plan to completely f— up the world but their motives are not totally ridiculous.”
Kingsman: The Golden Circle sees Taron Egerton, Colin Firth and Mark Strong reprise their roles from the first movie, with Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges and several others joining the cast. The movie arrives in theatres on September 22nd.