'Kick-Ass' is in the Database, but What is It?

Ultraviolent comic book getting independent support

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, August 15th 2008 at 11:35 PM

For a month or so now all the fanboy blogs have been ranting and raving about something called Kick-Ass, a film based on a comic by Mark Millar, and I had no idea what it was since I don't read comics, but now that I have learned a few of the particulars it sounds relatively interesting.

The comic is described as an ultraviolent story following Dave Lizewski, a high school dweeb who attempts to reinvent himself as a real-world costumed superhero named Kick-Ass who seems doomed to failure because he's not athletic or coordinated until he runs into real bad guys with real weapons. Apparently the damn thing is so violent no studio will touch it, but that isn't stopping Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake and Stardust) from finding his own source of money and getting it made.

The first casting has just been announced and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin' from Superbad) and Chloe Moretz, the little girl from the Amityville Horror remake, are set to star. Moretz's character is a ferocious, potty-mouthed 11-year-old who chops down crime thugs with a ninja sword. Mintz-Plasse will play the Red Mist, the angry teen son of a mobster who tries to find and uncover Kick-Ass' identity.

Vaughn has managed to secure himself $30 million independently and is talking to several high-profile stars to play parents or mobsters. The lead character has not yet been cast.

Sony was given the script by Vaughn, but they balked at the violent nature and Vaughn refused to tone it down while other studios seemed open but wanted to increase the ages of the characters involved. An 11-year-old violently killing people with a samurai sword apparently doesn't ring true to the suits.

For those interested in learning more about the comic you can pre-order the complete set from Amazon right now for only $14 and it holds volumes #1-6. You can get that right here.