Development Finance of Kick-Ass

THE ADVISER
April 16, 2010

The Outsider Superhero A filmmaker goes up against the Marvel mafia; 'postmodern love letter'

By LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER

 

 

Aaron Johnson stars as a teenager with dreams of becoming a superhero in 'Kick-Ass.'

The vast majority of Hollywood movies about superheroes show us that winners barely break a sweat as they glide toward victory. Yet a new superhero movie's road to release was paved with obstacles.
"Kick-Ass," which opens on Friday, tells the story of a teenager named Dave who tries to become a superhero, only to fall flat on his face. Along the way, Dave—played by British actor Aaron Johnson—ends up meeting real-life vigilantes who come pretty close to superheroes, including former cop turned street fighter "Big Daddy," played by Nicolas Cage, and his ruthless 11-year-old daughter, "Hit-Girl."
The aesthetic of "Kick-Ass" recalls the work of Quentin Tarantino, with its cartoonish sequences of violence. Footage from the film was a hit at last year's Comic-Con convention and analysts are projecting that it will make more than $25 million at the domestic box office this weekend, an especially high range for an R-rated movie.   

A tongue-in-cheek superhero movie would seem to fit in with Hollywood right now, when superheroes—and their comic-book antecedents—are pulling in big numbers. "The Dark Knight" become one of the highest grossing films of all time when Warner Bros. released it two summers ago, and "Iron Man 2," which hits theaters next month, is one of several franchises launched by Marvel Entertainment, which Walt Disney Co. acquired for more than $4 billion this year.

Yet it's a different story when it comes to superheroes who didn't come from a pre-existing comic book with a built-in fan base. The Hollywood studios refused to finance "Kick-Ass," so its writer-director Matthew Vaughn decided to make it independently. It took him just two weeks to raise the $35 million to make the movie, half from his own pocket and half from private investors.
"Every studio, every single person in Hollywood who could have financed the film, they all said flat-out 'no,'" says Mr. Vaughn, who was born in Britain and happens to be married to supermodel Claudia Schiffer. "The movie was about superheroes, sure, but it wasn't a remake or a sequel, and that made it risky."
Once the film was completed, however, Hollywood grew interested. Lionsgate, the independent studio behind challenging movies like "Precious" and the "Saw" franchise as well as edgy television fare like "Mad Men" and "Nurse Jackie," signed on to distribute the movie last summer after a fierce bidding war with Universal Pictures among other studios.
"This film was a dream for us: it has a big heart, the action is innovative, and you don't have to be a comic-book fan to really like it," says Joe Drake, president of Lionsgate's motion picture group.
Mr. Vaughn, who calls the movie "a postmodern love letter to superheroes," first began work on the script about two years ago, after meeting comic-book writer Mark Millar at a premiere in London.
Mr. Vaughn says the end result was worth it. "You have to make movies that push the boundaries, otherwise we stagnate. Someone told me that the film is the 'Clockwork Orange' of our time—I think that's as good as you can get."