Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust) recently spoke to Ain’t It Cool News about his upcoming adaptation of the ultra-violent teen superhero comic book, Kick-Ass. The first ever footage of the movie will be shown during Comic-Con this year, but Vaughn has let out some details about the movie a few weeks in advance.
In the interview with AICN, Vaughn spoke about various aspects of the movie including the look/style, the cast and even a possible sequel (with this type of movie that kind of talk is inevitable). Take a look at some of what Vaughn said about Kick-Ass:
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Here’s what Vaughn had to say about his first attempts to shop Kick-Ass around at various studios, and the numerous turn-downs he got:
“The film breaks a lot of taboos, and has certain elements that, if you’re a studio executive, might make you think, “Why in the hell would we make a film like this?” One thing I don’t think anyone got from the script was how humorous and fun it is…. They were like, “Is it a gangster film, is it a comedy? What is this? We don’t get it! We’re not making it!” So we thought “Fair enough. Screw you guys, we’re going to go off and make it.”
Regarding his opinion of how Kick-Ass turned out (at least the rough cut anyway), Vaughn doesn’t want to be too full of himself, but he thinks it’s the best movie he’s ever made (Layer Cake was pretty damn good, so…):
“I don’t want to sound too arrogant about the thing because there’s nothing worse than someone saying, “I made the best damn movie of all time!”, then you watch it, and you go, “Yeah…” I can say this… not that it means much… but it’s definitely the best movie I’ve ever made. That doesn’t mean it’s a great film. But, for me, I think I punched above my weight.”
Vaughn goes on to tout Kick-Ass as a movie that’s unlike anything he (or many other people) have done, as well as speculating what he thinks other people’s opinion of the movie will be:
“KICK-ASS is like nothing else that I’ve ever done – or a lot of other people have… And I think KICK-ASS is a movie that I can guarantee you will either 100% think is a pile of dog sh**, or you’re going to love it. There will be no in-between reaction to the film. It’s going to be one or the other.”
Fans that like their comic book movies a bit more on the realistic side of things can rest assured Kick-Ass will very much be in that vein:
“There’s nothing in this film that couldn’t happen. Some of the actions sequences are… you know, we’re making a movie, so I pushed the boundaries as far as I could. There are a few moments you’d maybe pull off one in a million times if you were doing it for real. But I tried to ground this as much in reality without it being a documentary.”
On his lead actor, Aaron Johnson, Vaughn seems pretty enthusiastic about him and his performance in Kick Ass:
“Aaron Johnson… mark my words, is going to be a huge movie star… He has that charisma where you believe every word he says. He can also stand in front of the camera and say nothing, but you still want to watch him. He’s fun. The actor I think he’ll become is Robert Downey, Jr. He’s very similar to him.”
Vaughn also talked about one of the lead actresses, Chloe Moretz (who plays Mindy/Hit Girl), who he was even more enthused about than Johnson:
“Okay. When you watch it… I will bet you any amount of money you want… anything at any odds… I’ll give you a million-to-one odds if you want… that you will a) fall in love with her, b) buy her, and c) think, “My god, I just saw the Jodie Foster/Natalie Portman of this generation… I really mean that. If this movie was STAR WARS, she’d be Han Solo.”
Chloe Moretz is Mindy/Hit Girl
Vaughn gives a really cool detail about the style of the film being glossy like a big-budget superhero movie, only with all of this gritty stuff happening to contrast the polished look:
“For me, I thought that if I shot it grittily, you’d then expect gritty shit to happen. So I thought let’s do the opposite; let’s make it glossy, so you could easily see these characters in SPIDER-MAN. but it’s like “What would happen if Spider-Man were in the real world?”
Finally, Vaughn teased with the possibility with a Kick Ass sequel even before the first film has a release date:
“I don’t want to tempt fate. But Mark (Millar) and I over a couple of beers came up with one of the funniest, coolest idea for a sequel that we would only be able to get away with if the film does well. We’d sort of dial it up to eleven, shall we say.”
For the full transcript of the interview, you can head over to AICN.
It really sounds like Vaughn has put his all into Kick-Ass, keeping the source material firmly in mind. I am liking the sound of it – particularly of what he says about giving the movie a glossy Spider-Man feel while having all of the really gritty, really violent stuff happen on-screen. I’d love to get a look of some of those moviegoer’s faces that aren’t expecting such explicitness!
Kick-Ass is likely to be much more violent than people are expecting.
When Kick-Ass eventually does get a release, it’ll be interesting to see how it does at the box office. Much in the same way as Watchmen, this isn’t a well known property outside the “comic book geek” world, and like Watchmen it’s very violent. By now we know how (not) great Watchmen did at the box office; however Wanted (another little-known comic book adapted into a violent movie) was a surprise hit at the box office, so who knows?
Vaughn mentioned a possible release of the first quarter of 2010 for Kick-Ass, but nothing official has been set for it as of yet.
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14 Comments
I haven’t read Kick-Ass ( is it even out yet ? ) but so far what I’ve read/seen/heard about it makes me think it will be a lot of fun,
Have any of you read the comic ?
When will Kick Ass hit theatres ?
I can’t wait
I believe SOME of it is out; it’s currently listed as “ongoing.” And no, I haven’t read any of it. Although I plan to, it has my interest, for sure.
I read the comic and I love how confident Vaughn is about his film. The level of violence in the book along with teenage characters, being the instigators of the violence, will definitely strike a chord. The comic is also amazing in the way it is grounded in a reality that doesn’t look pretty…. our reality!
Mr. Vaughn did not mention one of the other “stars” in the film. Maybe his flaws are too obvious to retort in the interview. I heard that he did not want “him” in the film but was forced by the studio. Too bad, I won’t see it with the worst actor of all time.
this movie has been given an R rating in america lucky them R rating means that anyone under 18 can go see this movie as long as they have an adult with them wow chloe grace moretz fans are really lucky in america they will get to see their heroine in her latest role but not the case in the United Kingdom where this movie is loking like it is going to be an 18 as the UK doesn’t have an R rated system the nearest equivelant is 18 which means sorry chloe grace moretz fans unless you are 18 or over you cannot go to see kick ass in british theaters there are going to be a lot of dissappointed fans especially fans who have grown up around chloe’s movies etc and are the same age chloe is i made a mistake i thought the UK had An R rated policy aswell i told my daughter who is infact chloe’s age that i will take her to see it now having found out that this movie will more than likely be an 18 i am now going to have to tell her i can’t take her to see this movie because its an 18 i haven’t told her yet and i know when i do she is going to be heartbroken she adores chloe she has seen all her other movies and tv shows so i am now thinking of a right moment of when and what to tell her.
how do you know alison that this movie will get an 18 rating i have got horror films that are violent and they are rated 15 and the fact you can’t take your daughter to see this movie at the cinema’s is hardly what i would call the end of the world when this movie has been out a while like any other movie it will get released on DVD you can just go out and buy the movie on DVD for your daughter i do not know why you are moaning about this for because there are laws in britain i also live in britain by the way this movie will probably get a 15 or even below that IE PG12 or PG13 you say R rating in the states means anyone under 18 has to have an adult with them to see an R rated movie you say 18 is the british equivelant i m sorry to say but its more like PG parental guidence which means having a parent with you a parent is also an adult okay you might find this movie will get away with either a PG12 or PG13 you have only got to see what kids are watching these days and also games console games some contain violence and strong language not to mention you hear kids using f words and c words all the time i have heard them horror films that were once 18 rated years ago even banned have been unbanned re released on dvd and have suddenly got a 15 rating
Great advice, Paul. Does it not occur to you that one of the reasons you hear kids swearing all the time is that their parents couldn’t care less what they’re watching? Certificates are there for a reason. And so is punctuation.
nobody takes any notice of them i saw zombies dawn of the dead on video years ago when i was 12 years old and that was an 18 rating however kids are intelligent and it is not always a good idea to insult their intelligence as kids today know what they are watching isn’t real they know the ins and outs of how a movie is made there isn’t a law saying a child can’t swear and there is clearly not a law saying that a child cannot be in an 18 film thats why chloe Grace Moretz is in Kick Ass and she will get to see the movie at its premiere according to an interview so i can hardly say no to my kids watching this if hollywood can put a 12 year old in a 18 rated movie and she is then allowed to watch it when its released then so can my kids i can hardly refuse because i was watching 18 rated movies not at the cinema obviously but at home when i still lived with my parents i was about 12 when i saw my first
Apparently watching zombie movies at a young age impacts one’s ability to use punctuation and paragraphs.
Vic
and what do you mean by that VIC just because you weren’t allowed to see them yourself!
i must say i find everyones comments on here rather ignorant to say the least chloe grace moretz has done 18 rated movies before its not unusual just because they put someone her age in a movie doesn’t mean someone her age is allowed to see it duh thats why it will be an 18 rated also people were wondering how they managed to put someone her age in such a violent movie like this well it is probably her agent manager and family promising her fame you might get an oscar chloe there is one example.
The same with dakota fanning she did that child rape film a few years ago and now she is doing this musical thing set in the 70’s and there is lesbian stuff in it okay anyone ever see the exorcist how old do you think linda blair was when she did that that was horrific and that movie is still an 18 rating now so please do not knock chloe moretz for this kick ass movie as though she is the only one to have done a movie like this just remember one thing it is a film it is not real its acting and i hope i am not sounding too pretencious when i say this an actors job is to create
@Paul
That was a joke, son. What I mean is I will take someone’s opinion much more seriously if they actually demonstrate an ability to write clearly and correctly.
I DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO ANYTHING ANYONE SAYS WHO WRITES THEIR ENTIRE COMMENT IN ALL CAPS.
and i don’t take seriously the opinion of anyone who writes run on sentences and can’t be bothered to use proper grammar capitalization or punctuation because to me that demonstrates either laziness or a lack of basic education so why should their opinion matter to me at all
Vic
i just seen a video clip of a new interview of chloe moretz it was done at comic con
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmRDxEIM-o
her family were all for her doing the movie but does anyone want a laugh her parents wont let her watch family guy and yet she is allowed to act like a raving psycho in this new kick ass movie swearing more than i have had hot dinners and i have had a lot in my lifetime copy the link above to your browser and see for yourself the intervies
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