What Do The Critics Say?

"Make no mistake; Kick-Ass is a violent, occasionally sadistic and frequently amoral film. It is also breathtakingly fun and wonderfully transgressive. 4 STARS." CINEMA AUTOPSY "Kick-Ass has something you don’t usually see in superhero films: charm." TIMES (UK) "KICK-ASS kicks ass! A rockin' good ride." IGN AUST "A flawless take on the rebellious punk sensibilities of the source." SFX MAGAZINE "A freshness and vigour that elevates it from the crowd." DIGITAL SPY "It is blissfully, outrageously funny." THIS IS LONDON "Starts with a big laugh and they don’t stop coming for two hours. The script is sharp, there are clever comic book graphics, a cool soundtrack and a satisfying ending." BIRMINGHAM POST

"Kick-Ass expertly blends side-splitting humor with bone-shattering action and the result is something endlessly entertaining." HOLLYWOOD.COM "Hit-Girl owns this film like she would own your ass if you ever stepped to her." CLOTHES ON FILM "Unabashed geekiness that will delight anyone who has a favorite superhero." SUNDAY STAR TIMES "It is blissfully, outrageously funny." VIEW LONDON "Quite simply the most successful comic adaptation to date." SFX MAGAZINE "A mind-bending and mesmerizing thriller." MOVIES.COM "The buzz surrounding Kick-Ass has been building to fever-pitch; for once, it’s thoroughly deserved, and then some." FAN THE FIRE

The Inside Story Behind The Making Of "Kick-Ass" Every superhero story has an Evil Genius, and this is no exception. This particular Evil Genius, however, doesn’t wear a cape, or live in a hollowed-out volcano, or plan appalling atrocities that will bring society to its knees. What he does, instead, is write compulsively readable, often perversely funny and deeply twisted comic books. From his radical reinvention of Superman’s origin, "Red Son", to his re-imagination of Marvel’s premier superhero team "The Avengers" into "The Ultimates", to "Wanted", the villains as heroes punk-tinged series that led to a hit film in 2008, starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie; the Evil Genius in this case is Mark Millar ("Ultimate Avengers"). And one day he had an idea that would not only become Kick-Ass the comic book, but "Kick-Ass", the Major Motion Picture. "I’ll draw something and then work out the story organically around it," says three time Eagle Award winner Millar. "I had a drawing of two superheroes: a young girl dressed like Robin and a big guy dressed like Batman. I loved those characters and decided to put them into something, but I thought they were too out there to be the leads. Then I started to do autobiographical stuff. I had this notion when I was fourteen, of becoming a crime fighter in Glasgow. I thought it would be interesting to tell the story of that, had it happened. So then I had a drawing of a superhero going out on his first night, and getting stabbed and run over by a cab. Then I realized the two projects belonged together." And lo, "Kick-Ass", in which 2007 Stan Lee award winner Millar asks the question, "why does nobody ever try to become a superhero?" and answers it with a barrage of extraordinary violence, bizarre characters and insanely quotable dialogue; was born. He started to work on the creator-owned comic with artist, John S Romita Jr but then, buoyed by the success of "Wanted", decided to explore the possibility of bringing his new baby to the big screen before barely a panel had been drawn. So he picked up the phone and called his old pal, the TV presenter and comic book nut Jonathan Ross, about his idea. Ross, in turn, then told his wife, Jane Goldman, the co-writer of Matthew Vaughn's "Stardust". "I think that Mark has had millions of brilliant ideas, but I could see why he was particularly excited and I shared his excitement," says Goldman. "It is one of those ideas that makes you ask 'God, has nobody done that? That’s insane!' The very basic story of someone who loves superheroes deciding to give it a try without having any powers simply hadn’t been done before." From there, Goldman tipped off her writing partner and director of 2007's "Stardust", Matthew Vaughn, who was already looking for his next movie. To him, and "Kick-Ass" seemed to fit the bill. "I was a fan of Mark’s work," says Vaughn (who directed future James Bond, Daniel Craig, in 2005's "Layer Cake"). "We got on really well. He pitched it to me and the concept was great. He came down to my house: all the best creative meetings for me take place there; and we sat down over an afternoon and plotted the whole movie.." That very same day Vaughn told Millar, "I'm in!" And that, as they say, was that. "Kick-Ass" had its Evil Genius, and now it had its Hero. By the time the movie started filming, Kick-Ass issue #3 had come out. By the time filming ended, issue #5 was on the stands. And the final issue (issue #8) apeared as Vaughn put the finishing touches on the film. This meant that the line between the comic and the movie blurred more than any on previous effort, as Vaughn and Goldman worked closely with Millar and his artist, John S. Romita Jr. Kick-Ass's costume looks virtually identical in both the comic books and the film, for example, because of the way these two teams collaborated from the beginning. "In a weird way, I found it quite exhilarating because lots of good ideas and experiments were happening at the same time," says 2005 Empire Award winning UK director, Vaughn. "It lifted the script and I think it lifted the comic. It was like a great game of tennis." But Vaughn and Goldman were also keen that their movie wouldn’t simply be a carbon copy of Millar’s book. Handily, by the time they started writing the script, Millar had only plotted up to issue #3, giving the screenwriters a chance to take their Kick-Ass in a different direction. So the back-story of Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy is markedly different from the comic book version, to name but one example, while the climax of Vaughn’s film is more explosive. Once Vaughn had committed to the idea of writing "Kick-Ass", he and Goldman got a script together very quickly, with Vaughn writing a first draft focusing on structure and story before Goldman added the dialogue and characterization. "I love writing with Jane," says Vaughn (who appeared in Guy Ritchies "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"). "I’m the guy who draws the blueprint of the house and she comes along and goes, 'that’s a pretty good house, but I can make it a lot better.' She turns it into a proper home. I’d be pretty lost without her." And now, with script in hand, it was time for "Kick-Ass" to kick some ass. There was just one problem, though: nobody wanted to take a chance on it. Like Wanted, Kick-Ass was an independent, creator-owned and controlled comic that basically gave Millar carte blanche to do what he wanted, and Vaughn was determined to apply the same ideas to his movie version, even if that meant including scenes where an eleven year old girl mows down scores of heavily armed men with a plethora of weaponry and scores of middle-digit attitude. Hollywood’s major studios, however, saw things differently. Vaughn revealed, "They all said no. To their credit, most of them were just a straight no, bloody quickly, which doesn’t normally happen. Normally, they procrastinate." While most of them said they liked the concept: there was a 'but'. That 'but' was they liked it, as long as Hit Girl wasn't in it. And it had to fit into a US rating of PG-13. That only made Vaugn ("The Debt") more determined than ever. He decided to fund the project independently and the money was quickly raised. With the film deep in pre-production, Vaughn unable to find an actor to fill the yellow boots of his hero, hapless teen turned plucky hero, Dave Lizewski. "I nearly put the movie back six months. We’d cast all the other roles, but without the right guy as Dave? Forget it." Vaughn had imposed an edict: the role of Dave, a New York teenager, would not be played by a Brit. "I was paranoid. As a British filmmaker shooting this in England with a British cast, we would do a Dick van Dyke in reverse. But the problem is that these guys were screen-testing, and they could do the geeky guy, but the scenes with emotion and heart? There would be nothing." Then, Vaughn’s casting directors, 2005 Artios Award winner Sarah Finn ("Crash") and Lucinda Syson ("Batman Begins"), encouraged him to take a look at a tape from a young actor named Aaron Johnson, which Vaughn had earlier turned down without viewing. When he did, the star-making part of his brain (the part that discovered Vinnie Jones, Sienna Miller and set Daniel Craig on the road to Bond), began to light up. "I wanted to say, 'you’ve got the role', right then and there. But I had to calm down." Vaughn was already excited, but what happened next must have come as a bit of a shock. "Where are you from? LA? New York?" Vaughn asked Johnson, who by the way, played John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy". "Little Chalfont", Johnson replied. Vaughn recalls thinking Johnson was joking and responded with "that’s a bloody good English accent you’ve got there." After being convinced by the casting directors that Johnson really was English and that was "why we’d rejected his audition tape originally", Vaughn gave him the role. Johnson sees his character as someone who " doesn’t have a whole lot going for him, so he tries to stand out from the crowd by becoming a superhero, and that’s when he becomes interesting." And his take on the film? "It’s teenage high-school humor mixed with dark, messed-up violence". Or in plain English: "it’s Superbad meets Kill Bill." That seems even more appropriate with Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Superbad") being cast as 'Red Mist'. Before getting the role, Mintz-Plasse had actually read for the role of Dave. So how come he missed out? "I guess I had too much energy and charisma!" He also admits: "You wouldn’t look at me and go, 'that guy’s a superhero!'. He’s a comic book nerd, which helps him become a superhero, because he knows what he needs. Red Mist cruise the streets of New York in the Mistmobile, a souped-up red Ford Mustang. "It looks like it was fun but it was so stressful for me," he recalls. "It’s a stick-shift and I’d never driven a stick-shift in my life, so I had to learn on a two hundred thousand US dollar car. Matthew was like, ‘If you screw this up, I’m going to have your bloody career on a stick!' But I didn’t crash and die!" If you think that the relationship between Kick-Ass and Red Mist is complicated, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Meet Damon Macready and Mindy Macready, a father and daughter with one heck of a secret: when they’re not making hot chocolate (laced with with marshmallows) for each other, they operate as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, highly-trained, heavily-armed costumed vigilantes, committing the organized attacks on D’Amico’s crew that he erroneously pins on Kick-Ass. As played by Chloë Grace Moretz (now thirteen years old) Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky force of nature, likely to be an instant icon redolent of Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver", and Natalie Portman in "The Professional". Vaughn didn’t have to wait too long to find his Hit Girl. "I saw just two girls. Chloë came in, tested, and that was it." Moretz says after all the hype of "Wanted", she wanted "an Angelina Jolie-type role, a young woman who takes charge. Then "Kick-Ass" came up, and when I read it, I was freaking out. I was screaming for three days straight when I got the role." Oscar winner Nicolas Cage, who plays Big Daddy, had nothing but gushing praise for his young co-star. "I just really liked Chloë. I knew she was going to be an enormous star because of how well she performed. I gave her a little starfish from Tiffany when we wrapped, because real stars are nice people, and that’s what she is." "Kick-Ass" gave Cage a chance to bring something different to the superhero genre. "The comic book movie to me is a perfect form of entertainment. They’re like the modern Western in some ways." "I wanted a movie star in that role," says Vaughn. "I thought Cage could bring a unique flavor to it which he did. It’s about paying homage to something that I love rather than holding it up for ridicule." Filming commenced in September 2008, at Elstree Studios, London, and various locations in Toronto ( which doubled for New York). From there, Vaughn labored away at the film, finessing it with additional photography, including a stupendous climax. What's It All About?

"How come nobody’s ever tried to be a superhero?" When Dave Lizewski, an ordinary New York teenager, dons a green and yellow internet-bought wetsuit to become a no-nonsense vigilante, he soon has the answer: because it hurts. But, overcoming all the odds, the overly eager Dave quickly becomes a phenomenon, capturing the imagination of the public. However, he’s not the only superhero out there: the fearless and highly-trained father/daughter crime-fighting duo Big Daddy and Hit Girl have been slowly but surely taking down the criminal empire of local Mafioso Frank D’Amico. As Kick-Ass gets drawn into their no-holds-barred world of bullets and bloodletting with D’Amico’s son, Chris, now reborn as Kick-Ass’ arch-nemesis Red Mist, the stage is set for a final showdown between the forces of good and evil in which the DIY hero will have to live up to his name: Or die trying.

The Verdict "Forget the hype about Hit Girl. This is pure comic book fantasy at its very best. Massively entertaining, "Kick-Ass (and it does) is destined for cult status. And yes, it does answer that oft though question: "How come nobody’s ever tried to be a superhero?" While many of us have longed to be a superhero and while others have longed for a superhero, it's blatantly clear, one never comes along. But hey, we can always escape into the world of comic books. Here, heroes such as Spider-man, Superman, Green Lantern, Batman & Robin, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, The Hulk, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many others, dished out the sort of justice we could only dream of. Over the years many of the afore mentioned comic book heroes have made it onto both the small screen and the big screen with mixed results. Now three new heroes have come to town: Kick-Ass; Big Daddy and the incredible, indelible, Hit Girl. To balance out the the story, their target is crim boss Frank D'Amico, who besides having the usual suspects to back him up, is assisted by his 'wanna follow in daddies footsteps' son Chris, aka Red Mist. "Kick-Ass" has attracted quite a bit of controversy, much of which has been aimed at the character Hit Girl (played by a then twelve year old, Chloë Grace Moretz). Some commentators can't help themselves. They love to feed the politically correct and moralizing about a young girl playing a vigilante with a sadistic streak, provides an opportunity for them to get on their moral high-horse. It allows them to dodge the real issue: what are the merits of "Kick-Ass"? For starters, here's a few bleeding obvious ones. Colorful, spectacular, exciting, exceptional choreography, stunt work and a bang-on soundtrack. Glouriously entertaining, "Kick-Ass" is a high-end fantasy experience for adults (and children of an appropriate age, as per the films rating). Think "Kill Bill", "Batman Begins", "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" & "Smokin' Aces". The important point to remember here, is that it's only fantasy. It's not real. A full on adrenalin rush! An exhilarating ride. 4 1/2 STARS." The Production Team

Director Screenplay Comic book Producers Original Music Cinematography Film Editing Casting Production Design Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Design

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Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman/Matthew Vaughn Mark Millar Adam Bohling/Tarquin Pack/Brad Pitt David Reid/Kris Thykier/Matthew Vaughn Ilan Eshkeri & Henry Jackman Ben Davis Eddie Hamilton & Jon Harris Sarah Finn & Lucinda Syson Russell De Rozario Grant Armstrong/Brandt Gordon/Joe Howard/Sarah Stuart Tina Jones & Clive Thomasson Sammy Sheldon

Who Is Playing Who?

Aaron Johnson Nicolas Cage Chloë Grace Moretz Mark Strong Christopher Mintz-Plasse Garrett M. Brown Clark Duke Evan Peters Deborah Twiss Lyndsy Fonseca Sophie Wu Elizabeth McGovern Stu 'Large' Riley Michael Rispoli Corey Johnson Kenneth Simmons Anthony Desio Carlos Besse Peres Randall Batinkoff Dexter Fletcher Russell Bentley Jason Flemyng Tamer Hassan Yancy Butler Adrian Martinez Tim Plester Joe Bacino Hubert Boorder

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Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass Damon Macready/Big Daddy Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl Frank D'Amico Chris D'Amico/Red Mist Mr Lizewski Marty Todd Mrs Zane Katie Deauxma Erika Cho Mrs Lizewski Huge Goon Big Joe Sporty Goon Scary Goon Baby Goon Buttons Tre Fernandez Cody Medic Lobby Goon Matthew Angie D'Amico Ginger Goon Danil Posh Goon Oscar Juarez

Run Time 117 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Universal Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services. All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.