Kick-Ass New Movie

Kick-Ass Casting Begins

Posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 10:34 pm by: Peter Sciretta

Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin from Superbad) is in negotiations and Chloe Moretz (Dirty Sexy Money) has been cast in Mathew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic book Kick-Ass.

Based on the creator-owned comic from Marvel’s Icon imprint, the story follows a a 15-year-old boy named Dave Lizewski who attempts to become a real-life superhero. The catch is that he has no powers or any of the stereotypical reasons for choosing to fight crime. The screenplay was written by the Stardust team of Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. The violent nature of the source material and obvious issues with the useage of the title in marketing has caused Hollywood studios to pass on the project. Some studios showed interest but wanted Vaughn to either tone down the violence or raise the age of the lead character. Vaughn believed in the project so much that he raised $30 million from private investors to produce the project independently.

Mintz-Plasse is not in line for the lead role, but instead that of the Red Mist, an angry teenage son of a mobster who is out to uncover Kick-Ass’ true identity. Moretz’s character is described by THR as “a ferocious, potty-mouthed 11-year-old who chops down crime thugs with a ninja sword.” Vaughn is also talking to “several high-profile stars” to play the parents or mobsters. The main character, Dave Lizewski, has not yet been cast. Vaughn hopes to begin production in the fall.

Mark Millar is also the creator of Wanted, and writer on many successful Marvel comics titles such as Spiderman, Wolverine, X-Men, Civil War, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four