Producers-
Matthew Vaughan- Producer. As well as being a producer of the film, he also
directed the film.
Jeremy Kleiner- Executive Producer
Stephen Marks- Executive Producer
Mark Miller- Executive Producer
John Romita Jr- Executive Producer
Darren Goldberg- Line Producer
Lyn Lucibello- Line Producer
When you initially read the comic and picked it up, did you think that it would make a great movie from the start, even though it had an extreme amount of violence, and a 12-year-old girl killing people, all of those controversial elements?
Matthew Vaughn: Yeah, basically that's why I wanted to make the movie -- everything that made it different and fresh. I was like, "God, it's about time there's a superhero film like
Kick-Ass," literally, and I knew I could make a film that I'd want to go see, and I wanted to make a comic book movie that was more relevant to the world we live in.
Interview with Matthew Vaughan by the Observer
Seeing a movie like
Kick-Ass is a treat. You think you know what is about to be dished out, but in a very real way the film grabs you and takes you on an adventure through pitch-black comedy and bloody, badass action. Trust me when I say that you have no idea what you are in for. Along with all of the praise that
Kick-Ass has been receiving though, there has also been some criticism and controversy in the mix. After talking to director
Matthew Vaughn though, I think that’s just the way he likes it.
Being able to talk with Vaughn, in a way, is even more of a treat. You can tell he is a movie lover, and wanted to make a film for movie lovers. I also have a lot of respect for the guy in that
Kick-Ass, which a lot of people still don’t know, is sort of a independent feature. Vaughn funded much of the film himself, and in the process made this almost anti-Hollywood action film that shows that you don’t need a bunch of bankable names to make a great film.
Kick-Ass shows that one of the most important things is that you start with great writers and a great director…and Vaughn is both.
Later comes the brave part, choosing the right people for the roles…instead of the most popular people. Which the film, in the end, kind of ends up flipping that whole idea on it’s side…because everyone in this film is sure to become more popular because of their role. Don’t know who Aaron Johnson or Chloe Moretz is? Well, you will. Think Nic Cage is a sore spot for the movie? Go see it first, because great actors thrive under a great director.
Film School Rejects: Thank you for sitting with us today. We really appreciate it.
Matthew Vaughn: Oh, it’s my pleasure. I like the name of your website.
Do you? Are you a film school reject or did you go to film school?
I’m a rejected film school apply-ee. I didn’t even get that far.
[Laughs] Well it’s a good thing that you did make it because a lot of our rejects did see Kick-Ass. And, like I said, we all loved it. I was there at South By Southwest and it was just a great screening.
Great audience, shitty screening though. Fucking projection was shit. The sound was all over the place. Did you know it was missing a speaker on the left? So a whole lot of the jokes weren’t working because you couldn’t hear them. I was freaking out. But I think that people liked it still, so I couldn’t complain too hard.
So after seeing an audience reaction like that at South By, how has the process been since?
Well, it’s really weird because I should have been spoiled. You know, the first audience I was showing this movie to was actually in Austin at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon, you know, the Harry Knowles thing, and the reaction was incredible. And then South By Southwest was great.
But they are the sort of people…It’s a weird thing, because the audience I made this movie for, that was them. So them liking it made me feel unbelievably proud, and happy, and relieved. And then, it’s also been odd now showing it to a more general wide audience, and, to my amazement, they’ve been liking it just as much.
I am going to ask you not to be humble here, because I kind of see Kick-Ass as a game changer for the comic book movies. So for audiences, how do you think a film like Kick-Ass stacks up to like the stock Fantastic Four’s and Spider-Man’s?
Well, for me, it is really a loaded question. One of the main reasons I did
Kick-Ass was I was just like, you know, the comic movies, the superhero films I’ve been watching, the superheroes are old! You know, Batman is from the ‘30s, and Superman ‘30s, and Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, they are from the ‘60s, watched them in the ‘80s. And I just thought, “Gosh. Where is our modern-day superhero film? Where is our sort of post-modern look at all the movies that we all love?” I just felt too many of these films were regurgitating the same idea, so they are just not relevant to modern life in any shape or form. So I wanted to make a movie that I think kids are going to related to.
And we had unbelievably great reviews in England. And the harshest critic — I was terrified to read his reviews — said the thing that made me…I’ve never been so proud of a review because he described the movie as being the
Clockwork Orange for this generation. And when I heard that, I was just like, “Cool.” That’s exactly what I wanted.
I just felt like, “Where have the edgy, cool movies gone?” You know, what happened? I think the film industry has just grounded them out of the environment. I thought
District 9 was brilliant and one of the few films which I really, really enjoyed last year. And I said, “Look, I want to continue that vibe.”
I have to admit, when I first saw the trailer, I was expecting one kind of movie. But then when I saw it, it just kind of punched me in the face and I fell in love with it. Do you find yourself having a lot of these conversations lately?
Yeah, well I think this is an incredibly hard movie to cut a trailer from because the really cool stuff you can’t show in the trailer. And I’m actually quite proud to say that the movie…I think that of the people that will go watch this movie, I don’t think anyone is coming out saying, like most films, “Well, the trailer was better than the film”. So I’d rather always make films better than the trailer.
I read somewhere that you’ve been having to defend the film a lot, like could you explain that a little bit?
It’s a huge amount of controversy about the fact that Hit-Girl, everyone says she…what makes you laugh is that a lot of people go, “It’s just disgusting how much she swears!” I go, “You know, she swears twice in the film.” They’re like, “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, she swears twice.” And they’re like, “Oh, OK.” And it’s just amazing how people…the whole controversy is 99 cents and people who haven’t seen the movie. And those people…A lot people who have complained about it and then see the film, and then they just put down that knives because they sort of enjoyed it and realized that it’s a bit of a fun ride.
We’re not trying to change the world with this movie and we’re not trying to inspire kids to swear and kill people.We’re just saying, “Hey, go and have a laugh. It’s a movie for God’s sake.”
Was there ever a time in the process where you knew exactly that Hit-Girl is going to steal the movie?
When we were writing the script. I always knew that she was the Hans Solo of our film. And when once we cast Chloe, I knew that we had a very, very powerful secret weapon.
You mentioned that you weren’t able to put a lot of the great stuff that’s in the movie, obviously, in the trailer. Do you see the R rating as a strength or a weakness for the type of film that Kick-Ass is?
Well, I feel it’s a necessity. I mean, there’s no point in making
Kick-Ass and doing like all the Hollywood version. Then it would have ended up being no reason to watch or make the film as far as I’m concerned. So I just wanted to make the version of the movie with the script I wrote, and I was told, “You’re going to get an R if you make this film.” I was like, “So be it.”
I didn’t really think about the rating. I just thought about what the film I want to make is. And whatever rating I was given, so be it.
That’s awesome. So you mentioned casting. It seems like a guy like Mark Strong hasn’t been really found by American audiences yet, but a lot of the directors in the UK seem to love him. Where did Mark Strong come from in the process?
I worked with Mark on
Stardust. I can genuinely say he is one of the greatest. This is how acclaimed Mark is by the actor’s community, is when Ian McKellen came in to do the voiceover, do the narration, on “Stardust” and he watched the movie and I said I just couldn’t believe he agreed to do it. It’s a pretty big thing to get Ian to just come in and do your narration for the hell of it.
He goes, “I’ve always wanted to work with Mark Strong. He’s the greatest living actor England has.” I was like, “Wow.” That’s from Ian McKellen saying that? and I think
Kick-Ass is going to do for Mark what
Reservoir Dogs did for Tim Roth because, you know, well, the Americans were going, “Wow! who’s this new actor?” after
Reservoir Dogs, because, you know, it was the first time he did the American accent.
And I think this is going to be the birth of Mark. Well, we’re already going to be seeing a lot more of Mark regardless of
Kick-Ass because there are a lot of other movies coming out. But I think he’s going to be more in this, like, appreciation from now on.
You talked about Chloe and we just talked about Mark. I think you guys did an amazing job with casting. But if there were an alternate reality, could you have seen anybody else playing the parts?
Which characters?
Of any. I mean, I had a talk with Mark Millar and he was talking about fighting with the Scott Pilgrim guys over Michael Cera.
What was he saying about them?
He was saying that you guys were kind of fighting with the Scott Pilgrim guys to get Michael Cera for Aaron’s part.
Well, they filmed later than us. Mark’s…No, Mark’s wrong about that. We weren’t fighting over anyone like that. We were just… Mark was more keen on Michael Cera than I was and I… People say I’m nuts, but I like to go for as much as an unknown character playing the lead role as I can, because I really feel, then, that that character is born and no one is like saying, “Oh, wow. That’s Michael Cera doing a great job.”
It’s just like that is Kick-Ass, or the guy who’s playing Kick-Ass. And the only… It’s funny. It’s hard to answer that question. I got all the actors I wanted. So literally, I think this is why the movie works because we cast people who were right for the role and not for what we thought…The studios cast whoever they think is right for box office and poster, not realizing most of the time and this is Will Smith. If they’re not right for the role then there’s no box office. I just cast whoever was right for the role. I’m pretty proud of what they did.
Speaking of Mark, do you guys find yourselves racing each other for a sequel?
So now I’ve got an idea that the film is going to work. So if the film’s a big hit, I mean I had so much fun making the movie that I had some ideas for a sequel. But my problem is, like others in the industry, I don’t want to make the sequel unless I think the films going to be good, if not better, than the first one. If I do a sequel, I want to do
Godfather II of
Kick-Ass. I want to do the
Godfather III of
Kick-Ass.
I’m really…Let’s see how it does this weekend and if the public wants a sequel I’d love to make one, but I’d have to figure out a way of doing a good film. It’s like car maintenance.
You talked about the Hollywood process earlier and, you know, like if you don’t cross the line then you’re not really doing what you want to do. Was there anything that you really wanted to squeeze into the film but in the end it just didn’t fit?
No. There’s a split scene that they cut out for pacing-wise, which I’m sure one day we’ll do an extended cut. It’s a really funny scene of Red Mist and Kick-Ass having sex with groupies in the Mist Mobile. And is really, really funny, but it wasn’t quite right for the…
The hardest thing about this movie was keeping the tone right. You know, keeping that balance between comedy, drama, and action. It was tough. And so there was a few…There were two or three really, really cool things that I had to cut out because I just had to make sure the tone was right.
Obviously with this past few weeks of crazy press for you, is there anything that you haven’t had a chance to talk about or anything that you just want to get out there for the audience?
I want to expand on the Theory of Relativity but no one wants to listen. [Laughs]
Well, we’re here.
No, I’m being sarcastic. No, not really. I think I wanted to get the message out that it’s an independent movie that’s taken on the system. And therefore, if the kids support us so that we are a hit, then more people will get to do that and I think movies will be better.
I think if you liked
District 9 you will like this movie. I think you want to get the message out there it’s not just… I think a lot of people are thinking it’s a kids’ movie and I’m like, “Jesus Christ! This ain’t a kids’ movie.”
And I love
District 9 and I make movies in the sense for the audience which is me. So I’m convinced anyone who liked
District 9 or
Pulp Fiction or
Kill Bill or
Superbad, all the movies I love, they’re going to like this.
The Idea: Kickass: The Writer, Interview: The Guardian
The Writer- The film script was written by Jane Goldman, an English screenwriter. She has written the cripts for other films such as 'X-Men: First Class,' 'The Debt,' starrinh Helen Mirren and 'The Woman In Black' starring Daniel Radcliff. She has admitted to having a "geeky enthusiasm for comic books and violent video games."
The screenwriter Jane Goldman freely admits that her new film Kick-Ass "is not, obviously, for everyone". Perhaps she is thinking of the scene in which Hit-Girl, an 11-year-old female assassin in a luminescent purple wig, enters a roomful of evil baddies and utters the immortal line: "OK you c**ts, let's see what you can do now." Or maybe she is referring to the bit where Hit-Girl, in a conversation with her father about what she wants for her birthday, pretends to ask for a puppy before admitting with a coquettish giggle that "I'm just fucking with you Daddy. I'll have a Benchmade model 42 butterfly knife." Or she could be recalling the moments where Hit-Girl shoots a man through his cheek or slices off a drug dealer's leg with a machete.
Whatever the reason, Goldman is aware that
Kick-Ass could cause something of a stir. "I wouldn't take it personally if someone didn't enjoy the film," she says when we meet. "Certainly my 86-year-old friend of the family, I'd strongly recommend she doesn't go and see it."
She laughs, a tad uneasily. Goldman, 39, a talented writer who penned the widely-acclaimed 2007 film fantasy Stardust, is clearly nervous about how Kick-Ass will be received. "You've no idea how the audience is going to react, you just hold your breath," she says, anxiously pressing her hands together, her face partially obscured by a curtain of dyed carmine red hair. Later she will admit that she hates interviews. Partly, one imagines, this is because she happens to be married to the television presenter Jonathan Ross, he of the floppy hair and the inflated salary and the lewd answerphone messages, and she is wary of saying anything that could add to the public circus that surrounds him.
But in this case the nerves are misplaced.
Kick-Ass is a brilliant and inventive piece of film-making and looks set to become one of the box-office hits of the year. It tells the story of Dave Lizewski, a nerdy high school student and comic book fan who decides to become a superhero despite the fact that he has no special powers. Dave (played by Aaron Johnson, who recently starred as the young John Lennon in
Nowhere Boy) proves to be a fairly unsuccessful vigilante until fate brings him into contact with Hit-Girl, who has been trained by her father in the art of self-protection and who is the master of an astonishing array of weaponry, including butterfly knives and taser guns.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, who also co-wrote the script and with whom Goldman worked before on
Stardust,
Kick-Ass is based on the eponymous superhero adventure penned by the Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar. The film is shot through with Tarantino-esque action sequences but also manages to be extremely funny, despite the fact that the subject-matter – a pre-teen girl who swears like a sailor and shoots baddies dead with big guns – is somewhat problematic. Seven American film studios turned down the script before Vaughn released it through his own production company.
"We just really wanted Hit-Girl to be a character who, in a sense, simply happens to be an 11-year-old girl, in the same way that Ripley in
Alien could have been a guy but the part happened to be played by Sigourney Weaver," explains Goldman. "She [Hit-Girl] is genuinely dangerous, she's genuinely mad. It's not her fault: she's been raised in this environment where she doesn't know anything different. She's unwittingly part of a folie a deux."
Does she think of Hit-Girl, who is played by the 13-year-old actress Chloe Moretz, as a sort of hardcore mini-feminist, a challenge to the usual assumption that most movie violence is carried out by adult men? "Yeah... she's a feminist hero by token of the fact that she pays no attention to gender stereotypes. I think she also doesn't want special treatment because she's a girl."
The film caused controversy in the United States because of a violent online trailer that could have been viewed by children (even though it was clearly marked as "red band", denoting adult content). In the UK,
Kick-Ass will be released with a 15-certificate but there is an argument that because the film's protagonists are youngsters, it will prove more appealing to those in the same age group. "You could say the same of
Fish Tank, which has swearing and extreme emotional portrayals of violence," counters Goldman. "
Kick-Ass is a film for adults. It was never, ever aimed at children."
Will Goldman be allowing her own children – Betty Kitten, 18, Harvey Kirby, 16, or Honey Kinny, 13 – to see it? "The two oldest will see it. My youngest daughter… I have to think about it. I think it's a different deal if you've been on set and known the people involved and you know it's not real. Yeah, maybe.
"You very much see the consequences of violence in the film. I think that films that could be said to glamorise violence are ones where there isn't a physical or emotional consequence, where you have people fire off rounds and everyone is dying off cleanly and it doesn't matter, whereas here, people are bereaved, people are hospitalised, it's kind of unpleasant.
"I really don't think anyone having seen this film would come out of it feeling bloodthirsty… I don't think there's any reliable data proving any correlation between violence and films."
But was Goldman worried about the effects on Moretz, who, despite starring in the film, is too young to go and see it in the cinema? She thinks about this for a moment, hesitating as if to get her thoughts in order. "The fact that she's actually enacting the violence is in many ways probably less traumatic for a child actor than a lot of films where the children are victims of violence – serious films where they're the victims of violence at the hands of family members. I think actually, emotionally, that's a lot more disturbing for a child actor whereas this is comic book; it's light. I don't think it raises any difficult emotional issues for a child to process."
Still, the
Daily Mail is in a predictable tizz about it all. A few days before we meet, the newspaper runs an article headlined "Jonathan Ross's wife causes outrage", as though she had been caught mugging Andrew Sachs on the street for his bus pass. Does she care about this kind of press coverage?
"People's intolerance, I find puzzling," she says, a vertical crinkle appearing between her eyes. "The fact that I was singled out, I found bizarre but it didn't upset me, I just thought it was peculiar. It's funny – it's very rare that a movie is described as a writer's movie. It was kind of ironic that it was only when people had decided there was something negative about it that it was the writer's movie… Maybe it's that it makes a good tag on to this ongoing narrative in the press involving other people in my family – it makes it part of that saga."
That is as close as Goldman gets to mentioning the Jonathan Ross-shaped elephant in the room, and it must be frustrating to be constantly pigeonholed as someone's wife when she has been quietly pursuing a successful career as a writer for the last 20 years. Goldman grew up in north London, the only child of liberal, wealthy parents. Like Hit-Girl, she was terrifyingly precocious – leaving school at 16 with eight O-Levels before being hired as a showbusiness reporter on a casual basis by the
Daily Star.
A year later she met Ross at a nightclub while working for the paper, and the couple got married when she was 18. Goldman spent most of her 20s having babies but also found the time to write several books (including a novel, Dreamworld), front a television series investigating the paranormal, and cultivate a growing reputation as a screenwriter. As well as her work with Matthew Vaughn, she has just completed the script for a forthcoming film adaptation of Susan Hill's ghost story The Woman in Black. She seems to be intrigued by the supernatural and fantastical and admits to a "geeky" enthusiasm for comic books and computer games.
"I play
World of Warcraft, which means I end up hanging out with teenage boys a lot," she says. "I really enjoy the company of my kids… I'm not one of those people who goes 'Yeah, my kids are my mates', that's a dreadful kind of mother, but I'm fortunate that there are times that they do want me around, and I feel lucky that they let me into their world."
There is a part of Goldman that seems to connect easily with childhood, perhaps because she missed out on so much of it herself. "Yeah, I never hung out in parks and got drunk… I never did the proper teenage stuff and maybe that's why it still holds a fascination for me but I like to think it's because I really like that unbiased outlook on life. Teenagers come to things fresh and can really teach us an awful lot.
"I've yet to meet a bitter teenager. Bitterness, jealousy and jadedness, I think, are the most unattractive qualities in a person, and unfortunately they do seem to come with age."
In person, Goldman seems to embody both this freshness and a sort of gentleness that is strangely at odds with her love of violent video games and her striking physical appearance. She has a beautiful face, fire-red engine hair (re-coloured every three to four weeks) and a figure that looks as though it has been drawn by a lascivious comic book artist. Is it a coincidence that she looks like the superheroes she has written about? "That's a huge compliment, thank you," she says. "I've always loved science fiction, fantasy, manga, comic books, so I guess to some degree those things influence my personal idea of what looks nice, which definitely isn't everyone else's."
She laughs, but it must take a certain degree of chutzpah to look so flagrantly individual. "In some way it's less courageous because it's essentially saying, 'I've opted out'; it's saying 'Please don't judge me against society's standards! I know I don't measure up, I've opted out, I'm playing a different game.'"
It is a game that she plays extremely well – but then, all that time practising on
World of Warcraft must surely help.
