Invoking the name of J.K. Rowling is guaranteed to cause a reaction in one way or another, with the Harry Potter creator having been slowly obliterating her reputation and standing over the last few years thanks to her repeated inflammatory comments to have seen her self-appointed as the ruler of all TERFs.
Not so long ago, she was one of the most popular and beloved figures in literary history, but we’ve since reached a stage where anything associated with the Wizarding World is faced with backlash, boycotts, and bad buzz based on her involvement alone. Strangely, then, Matthew Vaughn has made a direct comparison between Rowling and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Elly Conway, the protagonist of his incoming $200 million spy movie Argylle.
Hardly a death-knell for its chances of success, and his comments to Vanity Fair are justified in creating a sense of the lead character, but the mere mention of Rowling will no doubt ruffle a feather or two at the very least.
“She’s the J.K. Rowling of spy books. She’s agoraphobic. Her idea of a hot date is staying at home, writing more of her book, with her cat for company. She’s not a victim, because she’s really successful and really funny and really smart, but she has issues.”
Hopefully those “issues” aren’t rampant transphobia or Vaughn has a very tough sell on his hands, but we’d be inclined to believe it won’t be. As long as Howard doesn’t channel Rowling too much when it comes to her performance, Argylle should be fine, but maybe the widely-beloved Stephen King would have been a better point of reference.