‘Kick-Ass’ Starts Shooting Shortly

One of the surprise hits for Marvel this year was Kick-Ass, the series from Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. In addition to sell outs and multiple printings, it was optioned for a film prior to the first issue hitting the stands this past winter.

The movie, to be directed by Stardust’s Matthew Vaughn, stars Nicholas Cage and as the would-be hero, 18-year-old Aaron Johnson (Angus, Thongs & Snogging). While in Australia promoting Angus, he told Moviehole he goes from Down Under to Canada to begin shooting in a few weeks.

"Next week I’ll be in Toronto. I’m still trying to get my head around it. I just came back from New York actually where I was doing an independent film. I’ve gone from one side of the world to the other. My head is going crazy. I woke up this morning and said ‘Where am I?’ I looked out the window and saw the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and I’m like ‘Wow! How did I end up in Australia?’. Have you ever seen that film Jumper? It’s like I’m in Jumper."

As the teen turned costumed crimefighter, he won’t be required to do a lot of stunt work compared with the other members of the cast. "There’s a younger girl in it. [Chloe Moretz, Dirty Sexy Money] and Nicolas Cage do a lot of the fighting. I don’t do much fighting – I get my faced kicked in a lot though. She goes around with a samurai sword cutting people’s heads off. It’s very violent obviously. It’s going to be quite a crazy one. I play an American comic book nerd so it’s very different from the sex god roles".

The movie has been adapted by Jane Goldman who previously worked with Vaughn on adapting Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess’s graphic novel to the screen. The film will also star Lyndsy Fonseca (Desperate Housewives) and Omari Hardwick (Saved). A 2009 release date is anticipated.