The Kingsman series is known for pushing the envelope — a sendup of James Bond series, the films are raunchy and gory to an absurd degree. This means the films are a wee controversial. At least, that's how Taron Egerton, star of the films, is defending one of The Kingsman: The Golden Circle's more upsetting sex scenes.
"It’s what [director Matthew Vaughn] does, it’s his signature thing," Egerton told Screen Rant at a junket for Kingsman: The Golden Circle. "He likes to do something that shocks."
The scene is certainly shocking, but it's integral to the plot. (Although, it should be said, the plot is flat-out bonkers.) It involved Eggsy (Taron Egerton) placing a tracking device inside of a character Clara, played by Poppy Delevigne. By "inside," we're talking vaginal canal — the result is an almost cartoonish fingering that takes us, the viewer, inside of Clara's vagina. Don't worry; the movie leans on CGI to recreate that very intimate body part.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Egerton seemed to agree that the scene wasn't exactly appetising. "It’s not to everyone’s tastes, but it certainly gets people talking," he said. And it has — most reviews of the film, which arrives in cinemas Friday, have mentioned the scene in passing. Almost all regard the scene as a cheeky satire of the slinky, vague sex scenes in James Bond films, although almost none have decided if it worked or not. (GQ, to its credit, named it one of the film's "5 worst moments.")
Perhaps it's just too gross.
Despite his defence, Egerton explained that when they actually filmed the scene, Delevingne's husband lent a hand.
"I’m in the shot and I said to Matthew ‘I’m not comfortable doing this’. So it’s not my hand – it’s Poppy [Delevingne]’s husband’s hand. He saved the world," the Welsh actor explained.
The first film had an almost equally upsetting scene. A Swedish princess, who returns in this film, tells Eggys that if he saves the world, they can "do it in the asshole." At the end of the film, the princesses naked posterior floats across the screen, the implication being that it's about to be penetrated. The second movie makes the same reference at the end of the movie — no diminishing returns on anal sex jokes, it seems.
Egerton also told Screen Rant that he wasn't entirely comfortable with this sex scene, either. You've got to wonder: If the actor isn't comfortable, and the critics are mildly repulsed, was it worth it? Then again, this might have been Matthew Vaughn's plan all along.