20th Century Fox(NEW YORK) — Taron Egerton is in theaters again as Gary “Eggsy” Unwin in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the followup to the 2015 blockbuster Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Egerton was fresh out of drama school when he auditioned for the first film. He tells ABC’s Peter Travers there was a specific moment during the beginning of the “strenuous” audition process for Director Matthew Vaughn when the 27-year-old star knew he had a real shot at the part.
Vaughn “doesn’t mince his words…I remember my first audition for him. He…looked like he had a lot on his mind. He sat down and didn’t look at me. I did the scene, and he was still looking down. And I sort of went, ‘Are we done?’ And he looked up and went, ‘What was your name again?’ And that was the first moment where I thought I might [have] a shot here.”
“Very many” followed, Egerton laughed. “He really put me through my paces.”
After getting the part, the new drama school grad had to act alongside Oscar-winners Michael Caine and Colin Firth, the latter playing the agent who recruits Egerton’s “street kid” to become a spy. “I was helped by…an amazingly gracious cast,” says Egerton. “Colin Firth, particularly…kind of holding my hand, and making me feel valid among these certified film stars.”
In the original, Egerton’s character saves the world from a murderous plot launched by a mad billionaire played by Samuel L. Jackson. The sequel sees Eggsy unite with his agency’s American cousins, The Statesman, played by Pedro Pascal, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, and Channing Tatum, in order to topple another wannabe world dominator — played by yet another Oscar-winner, Julianne Moore.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is in theaters now.
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