The following interviews are taken from this months Empire Magazine.
Aaron Johnson on Kick-Ass (Dave Lizewski)
What kind of person is Dave Lizewski?
He’s a very naïve, shy kid, but when he puts his mask on, there’s this feeling of, “I’m a superhero, I can do anything I want.” So he does that, and he end up getting in well over his head, because there’s a whole gangster drug ring going on in the background.
Did you have to train much for the role?
I did. But I’m really jealous, you know, really jealous, of Chloe, who plays Hit-Girl. My training was just little bits here and there, and most of it on set - like, there’s a whole scene outside a doughnut store, the Dip N’ Sip, where my character’s got to fight with three muggers. I loved doing that. But I don’t get to do many, like, tricks, though. My character’s sloppy, which will look fantastic on screen. But it means I get the crap beaten out of me most of the time.
The one to look out for is Chloe, ‘cause she’s gonna smash it more than anyone. I’m just the British unknown actor that comes in, playing this pathetic kid who’s being bossed about by an 11 year old girl with samurai swords!
Do you think it’s helped that this is an independent movie?
Yeah. I think we’ve really been able to do as much as we can with it because of that. We’ve got a lot of money for an independent movie, and yet we can do what the [frick] we want with it. There’s nobody to say, “It’s too violent,” or, “There’s too much swearing,” or, “We want to put a bunch of Hollywood stars in it.” If we’d listened to that, we’d have made a completely different movie - it’s be commercial and boring. I wasn’t expecting half the sort of shit I’ve seen. The fight sequences, the stunts, are incredible. I’m sure the money’s probably all going there. That’s what I’d do!
Christopher Mintz-Plasse on Red Mist (Chris D’Amico)
What kind of character is Chris D’Amico?
Chris is the son of a very successful gangster. For the whole movie, he doesn’t bond with his father - and he wants to. And when he finds out that his father wants to get hold of Kick-Ass, he thinks of a way to deliver Kick-Ass to his father, which is by posing as a superhero called Red Mist and trying to get Kick-Ass himself. And that really excites him because now he’s getting the chance to be a superhero.
How would you describe Red Mist’s outfit?
The people who made the costumes for Hellboy made it, which blew my mind. If you took the logo off my costume, it could almost be Michael Jackson’s jacket from Thriller! The idea is that Kick-Ass made his costume himself. But ‘cause my character’s got so much money, I can have someone tailor the costume for me. So my outfit’s supposed to look cooler that Kick-Ass’.
What do you think the appeal of Kick-Ass is?
It’s super-bloody, super-gory, with lots of swear words, mostly spoken by an 11 year-old girl. I think that’s the best part! It doesn’t skimp on the dark stuff at all. You can find 100 swear words in this movie, and 50 are said by little Chloe. The funny thing is, she had no problem saying “[frick]”, she had no problem saying “[foo foo]”. The only word she had problems with was “dick”! She’d be, like, “I feel uncomfortable saying ‘dick’ and ‘balls’…”! I’m like, “But you just said ‘[frick]’! You just said, ‘[frick] you, asshole!’” She’s gonna steal this movie, I’m telling’ ya!
Kick-Ass is released later this year on April 16th. For more on the movie, the March 2010 issue of Empire Magazine is on sale now!