20th Century Fox
When you think of the Kingsman franchise, which has now spawned three films, what’s the first thing you think of? It’s probably the hell-raising church scene from the first movie, right?
That shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise considering the scene is probably one of the most memorable Hollywood action sequences of the last decade or so, as it featured Academy Award winner Colin Firth mowing through wave after wave of crazed, bigoted hillbillies armed with any weapon they could get their hands on.
Given how beloved and iconic the scene is now, it’s hard to imagine the movie without it. Apparently, however, that’s exactly what the studio did, as they pushed director Matthew Vaughn to cut it from Kingsman: The Secret Service just days before it hit theaters.
“That was the first thing we shot on Kingsman,” Vaughn told BroBible’s Post Credit Podcast of the film’s famed church sequence set to Lynard Skynard’s “Free Bird.”
“You start with a tricky, big scene, it clears the pipes and we’re in it, and you’ve got to concentrate. We’re also not exhausted, so we’ve got a chance at maybe making it work. But the thing about the church sequence, the studio was begging me to cut it three days before the film came out,” Vaughn. explained.
“They were all very worried about it. And when a lot of people [would] say, ‘Ah, you shouldn’t have this sequence in the movie.’ Creative opinion is… everyone’s right and everybody’s wrong. What some people love, other people hate. But it is what it is: that’s art. And a lot of people were telling me, ‘You can’t have the church sequence,’ so there was a moment where I was like, ‘Well, maybe I shouldn’t put it in the movie. But, in the end, I went, ‘Nah, I really like it, I’m keeping it in.’”
Vaughn’s new film Argylle will be hitting theaters on Friday, February 2, and stars Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson.
You can check out our full interview with the filmmaker below.