If you think that the relationship between Kick-Ass and Red Mist is complicated, you ain‘t seen nothing yet.
Meet Damon Macready and Mindy Macready, a father and daughter with one heck of a secret: when they‘re not making hot chocolate with marshmallows for each other, they operate as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, highly-trained, heavily-armed costumed vigilantes,
committing the organized attacks on D‘Amico‘s crew that he erroneously pins on Kick-Ass.
Alone, they‘re formidable Big Daddy can take out a warehouse full of goons without even breaking a sweat, while Hit Girl is a dab hand with a samurai sword and ninja throwing stars but together they may just be unstoppable, and one of the most remarkable superhero tag-teams to grace the silver screen.
As played by Chloë Grace Moretz, now thirteen years old, Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky force of nature, likely to be an instant icon redolent of Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, and Natalie Portman in The Professional (released internationally as Leon).
It‘s a heck of a part, calling for a hard-as-nails attitude, athleticism and an unexpectedly tender emotional core as events conspire against the teeny terror. Unlike the search for a Kick-Ass, though, Vaughn didn‘t have to wait too long to find his Hit Girl. "I saw just two girls," he says.
"Chloë came in, tested, and that was it." In fact, Vaughn brought in his Stardust star, Charlie Cox, to read on camera with Moretz. "I wanted her to be relaxed and Charlie‘s a sweetheart," says Vaughn.
"But halfway through the first take he looks at me and mouths, 'Shit, I have to raise my game‘. I was laughing, but I was gobsmacked as well. That happened with every actor they‘d be talking to her like she was a seven year-old and then I called 'action!‘, and all of them would be like, 'I am being blown off screen by a child!‘
"fter two weeks, nobody treated her like a kid. For Moretz, the role was something of a gift. "About a month before I got the role, Wanted came out," she says. "It was on all the buses and I was like, 'ohmigosh, mom, I want an Angelina Jolie-type role, a young woman who takes charge.‘"
Roles like that for teenagers are typically hard to come by, but Moretz was in luck. "Then Kick-Ass came up, and when I read it, I was freaking out. I was screaming for three days straight when I got the role because I was so much looking forward to doing a fantasy movie and wearing a superhero costume."
Nicolas Cage, who plays Big Daddy, has nothing but gushing praise for his young co-star. "I just really liked Chloë," he says. "I knew she was going to be an enormous star because of how well she performed. I gave her a little starfish from Tiffany when we wrapped, because real stars are nice people, and that‘s what she is."
Cage‘s involvement in Kick-Ass seemed to Vaughn like something of a no-brainer. Long renowned as one of Hollywood‘s most prominent comic book aficionados, Cage had circled several comic book movies before finally scratching his itch in 2007 with Ghost Rider.
But Kick-Ass and Big Daddy gave him a chance to bring something different to the superhero genre. "The comic book movie to me is a perfect form of entertainment,? he says. ?They‘re like the modern Western in some ways."
Cage had initially been offered a choice of playing Frank D‘Amico or Damon, and responded strongly to the latter. "I thought that was where the heart was, in the relationship between Big Daddy and Hit Girl. I thought that‘s where the emotion could be."
"I wanted a movie star in that role," says Vaughn. "I like the formula of having your lead be an unknown so that the character is that character. But Big Daddy was the bit of tinsel you need to get people to notice the movie. I thought Cage could bring a unique flavor to it which he did."
Indeed. Not only does Cage manage to make the borderline-insane Damon likeable and human, but he also provides much of the film‘s humor. In one scene, where Big Daddy and Hit Girl visit
Dave Lizewski in his bedroom, Cage, speaking as Big Daddy for the first time, launches into a pitch-perfect impersonation of the lilting, lurching tones of Adam West, who famously played Batman in the 60s TV show.
"Big Daddy is my ode to Adam West who, for me, is the only Batman. I grew up watching Adam West and he still has yet to be topped, in my opinion," says Cage. "He had this odd rhythm to his delivery, and I just wanted to tip my hat to him a little bit, to actors like him and William Shatner, who I think really started a whole cultural movement."
Cage‘s West tribute may have come out of the blue during rehearsals ('I was pissing myself laughing when he did it,' giggles Johnson), but the nod to Batman and West was entirely apt, as Big Daddy‘s look is modeled on Batman, with his costume resembling in some ways the Caped Crusader‘s.
"Matthew wanted me to have a yellow belt," recalls Cage. "It looked so much like the original belt from the Batman TV show that I thought, well, why don't we just go the whole way and have Damon be channeling Adam West because that's his Jungian muse, to help him accomplish the things that he accomplishes."
Vaughn is keen to point out, though, that the costumes don‘t overlap as much as a first glance might suggest. "The helmet is very different from Batman‘s helmet," he says. "It reminded me of [Brian de Palma‘s] Phantom of the Paradise, actually.
"But the rest is stuff that can be bought on the internet, meaning riot gear. Most of his outfit is French riot gear. The shoulders, all the pads, that‘s what the French riot police wear, in a different color. If you‘re going to get beaten up on the terraces, that‘s what you want to be wearing!"
But, when the costumes are off, the key to the Damon/Mindy relationship is that they‘re truly devoted to each other even if the relationship is a tad more twisted than your normal father-daughter pairing.
"I would say that he‘s a man who genuinely loves his daughter but he‘s misguided," explains Cage. "He‘s been confused by anger and vengeance and has actually lost his mind thinking of ways to protect his daughter by putting her into violent situations.
"He feels that if she gets a dog, that might get her killed. But if he gets her a butterfly knife, that might actually save her life.
"But I wanted Damon to be the nicest father in the world," he continues. "So that it would be a counterpoint to the things that they were up to as Big Daddy and Hit Girl."
Kick Ass is out now.
If you think that the relationship between Kick-Ass and Red Mist is complicated, you ain‘t seen nothing yet.
Meet Damon Macready and Mindy Macready, a father and daughter with one heck of a secret: when they‘re not making hot chocolate with marshmallows for each other, they operate as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, highly-trained, heavily-armed costumed vigilantes,
committing the organized attacks on D‘Amico‘s crew that he erroneously pins on Kick-Ass.
Alone, they‘re formidable Big Daddy can take out a warehouse full of goons without even breaking a sweat, while Hit Girl is a dab hand with a samurai sword and ninja throwing stars but together they may just be unstoppable, and one of the most remarkable superhero tag-teams to grace the silver screen.
As played by Chloë Grace Moretz, now thirteen years old, Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky force of nature, likely to be an instant icon redolent of Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, and Natalie Portman in The Professional (released internationally as Leon).
It‘s a heck of a part, calling for a hard-as-nails attitude, athleticism and an unexpectedly tender emotional core as events conspire against the teeny terror. Unlike the search for a Kick-Ass, though, Vaughn didn‘t have to wait too long to find his Hit Girl. "I saw just two girls," he says.
"Chloë came in, tested, and that was it." In fact, Vaughn brought in his Stardust star, Charlie Cox, to read on camera with Moretz. "I wanted her to be relaxed and Charlie‘s a sweetheart," says Vaughn.
"But halfway through the first take he looks at me and mouths, 'Shit, I have to raise my game‘. I was laughing, but I was gobsmacked as well. That happened with every actor they‘d be talking to her like she was a seven year-old and then I called 'action!‘, and all of them would be like, 'I am being blown off screen by a child!‘
"fter two weeks, nobody treated her like a kid. For Moretz, the role was something of a gift. "About a month before I got the role, Wanted came out," she says. "It was on all the buses and I was like, 'ohmigosh, mom, I want an Angelina Jolie-type role, a young woman who takes charge.‘"
Roles like that for teenagers are typically hard to come by, but Moretz was in luck. "Then Kick-Ass came up, and when I read it, I was freaking out. I was screaming for three days straight when I got the role because I was so much looking forward to doing a fantasy movie and wearing a superhero costume."
Nicolas Cage, who plays Big Daddy, has nothing but gushing praise for his young co-star. "I just really liked Chloë," he says. "I knew she was going to be an enormous star because of how well she performed. I gave her a little starfish from Tiffany when we wrapped, because real stars are nice people, and that‘s what she is."
Cage‘s involvement in Kick-Ass seemed to Vaughn like something of a no-brainer. Long renowned as one of Hollywood‘s most prominent comic book aficionados, Cage had circled several comic book movies before finally scratching his itch in 2007 with Ghost Rider.
But Kick-Ass and Big Daddy gave him a chance to bring something different to the superhero genre. "The comic book movie to me is a perfect form of entertainment,? he says. ?They‘re like the modern Western in some ways."
Cage had initially been offered a choice of playing Frank D‘Amico or Damon, and responded strongly to the latter. "I thought that was where the heart was, in the relationship between Big Daddy and Hit Girl. I thought that‘s where the emotion could be."
"I wanted a movie star in that role," says Vaughn. "I like the formula of having your lead be an unknown so that the character is that character. But Big Daddy was the bit of tinsel you need to get people to notice the movie. I thought Cage could bring a unique flavor to it which he did."
Indeed. Not only does Cage manage to make the borderline-insane Damon likeable and human, but he also provides much of the film‘s humor. In one scene, where Big Daddy and Hit Girl visit
Dave Lizewski in his bedroom, Cage, speaking as Big Daddy for the first time, launches into a pitch-perfect impersonation of the lilting, lurching tones of Adam West, who famously played Batman in the 60s TV show.
Tagged in Nicolas Cage Kick Ass