Release date: 4/16/2010
Lionsgate
Directed by
Matthew Vaughn
Screenplay by
Matthew Vaughn
Jane Goldman
Based on “Kick-Ass” by
Mark Millar
John Romita, Jr.
Produced by
Matthew Vaughn
Brad Pitt
Kris Thykier
Adam Bohling
Tarquin Pack
David Reid
Cast
Aaron Johnson Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass
Nicolas Cage Damon Macready/Big Daddy
Chloë Grace Moretz Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl
Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chris D’Amico/Red Mist
Happy Birthday, Sam!!
Initial comments by the hosts:
Melina thought it was a great overall movie with awesome acting, writing and music. Jill enjoyed it and thought there were some neat parallels to other movies and she loved the characters. Sam thought this movie was surprisingly violent, appropriately voiced-over and he enjoyed the hell out of it! Darrell thought… simply put… it kicked ass! David really liked it. Tony thought it was hyper-violent and hyper-awesome. One thing the hosts brought up is that they pretty much all thought that the movie was going to be a light comedy with superhero elements… not so much.
As much as Aaron Johnson gave a good, solid performance as Kick-Ass, Chloe Grace Moretz stole the show as Hit-Girl. Nicolas Cage was fantastic in this movie! They thought his voice and mannerisms were very Adam West-Batman/Captain Kirk. The hosts didn’t think that any other actor could have pulled off the father/daughter relationship any better than Cage.
David liked that the arc of this story didn’t follow the typical arc of a comic-book story. Typically there is one single large-scale event that motivates the character to become a superhero, or an event that physically changes the character. In Kick-Ass, Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is bullied and sees too many people turning the other way when they witness bullying. This is his motivation.
Favorite “kills” from the movie:
Tony – when Hit-Girl is wearing the school girl outfit and she shoots the other guys in the building lobby through the man’s mouth… and after everyone else is dead, she casually turns back and shoots the first man one more time to kill him.
Melina – her favorite sequence is Hit-Girl’s first scene (where the funky version of the Banana Splits theme was playing) and in between killing people, she looks up at Kick-Ass and gives him a big, creepy smile.
David – his favorite sequence is Kick-Ass’s jet pack scene, completely with a portion of “An American Trilogy” by Elvis Presley.
Darrell – he liked the scene where Hit-Girl had all pretty much lined up and then she’s waiting with guns in both hands and she explodes out and kills them out. His favorite scene in that part was where she reloaded her guns, by tossing the magazines in the air, while still marching down the hallway.
Sam – as much as he loved the microwave scene, his favorite was when she was in the library and, after she shoots one of the men, he falls and his sawed-off shotgun then shoots him through his chin.
Tony liked how the crime wall and the back story for Damon Macready/Big Daddy were all hand drawn in comic book style.
Nicolas Cage modeled his speech mannerisms as Big Daddy on original Batman – Adam West. According to Matthew Vaughn, Cage started acting out his lines this way at the first costume fitting. The director was happy for Cage to continue with this performance in the film, citing his irritation with the gravelly voice Christian Bale used in “The Dark Knight.”
According to Mark Millar, the “C-word” moment in issue three of the comic ultimately convinced Vaughn that it was a worthy project.
Cage came up with his character’s “disguise”: that Damon Macready would have a mustache, while “Big Daddy” would have an even larger mustache via adhesive extensions.
The comic montage of Damon Macready/Big Daddy’s past life was illustrated by artist/co-creator John Romita, Jr.
In response to criticism towards Hit-Girl’s character, Chloë Grace Moretz stated in an interview, “If I ever uttered one word that I said in Kick-Ass, I would be grounded for years! I’d be stuck in my room until I was 20! I would never in a million years say that. I’m an average, everyday girl.” Moretz has said that while filming, she could not bring herself to say the film’s title out loud in interviews, instead calling it “the film” in public and “Kick-Butt” at home.
There was a cameo of Stan Lee as a man watching news footage.
Your Producers for this episode were:
- Tony
- Darrell
- Jill
- Melina
- David
- Sam
This episode was recorded: 3/14/2012
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