"Kick-Ass 2" hits theaters this Friday, August 16. The cast of the film met with reporters in New York a few weeks ago to talk about making the sequel. Latinos Post was at the event.
One of the main subjects of conversation centered on the three young actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse returning to the same characters that launched their respective careers.
"I think Hit-Girl is that character that put me in a different light. I think it's the character that I would say is my breakout role," said Moretz about playing the agile and powerful Hit-Girl. "You know, put me in the minds of people in this business. It's an amazing role because ... It was poppy and fun and to revisit it was so fun... it's just one of those characters that I definitely think changed me as an actor for sure."
She did note that she had a hard time trying to find a reason to return to the role and not repeat what she did in the first film.
"It was interesting kind of trying to find the reason to even come back to her. Trying to find what have we not seen in the first film that you would even want to see in the second film," said Moretz. "And I think that was the main struggle with her because... you saw so much Hit-Girl and you never saw [alter-ego] Mindy McCready. You never saw all [of] the girl behind the mask. And that's what we wanted to show."
Moretz referenced a scene in the film in which her character jumps on a van without her costume and battles to save her friend Dave Lizewski. She noted that the scene was exemplary of the film's intention to show that the costumes the characters wear do not define them.
"She's a superhero in her heart. These superheroes, its coming from inside. They don't need to be Kick-Ass, they don't need to be Hit-Girl," she asserted. "They need to be who they are to be the true superhero."
Mintz-Plasse also expressed a similar enthusiasm toward returning toward his role of Chris D'Amico.
"I think we both had really cool different arcs in this one. Obviously I am now a different character. I'm much more dark and twisted," he said.
In this film, D'Amico, also known as Red Mist in the first installment, decides that he wants to be a super villain. As part of his transformation he changes his name to "The Motherf****r" and hires a number of henchman to do his deeds. D'Amico told reporters that being part of the franchise enabled people to see him in a different light.
"I think it was just good for people to, cause I just did a bunch of comedies before 'Kick-Ass' and this one, so I think it was cool for people to see me do something a little darker, a little more 'action-involved,'" he said.
Taylor-Johnson was a bit more hesitant about expressing his enthusiasm for returning to the franchise. In fact, he admitted that he wished that he could have remade the original film to further develop the character.
"I think it took me actually a little bit longer to come around because most people thought I was just a teenage comic book fanboy from America. But I'm far from the character," he admitted. "I think it was a challenge for sure. It's really hard for me because [like I said] I go from a character, then I'd erase it and then I'd just go to something else [because] I find that a lot easier."
"But to go back to something and then try to make it feel like the same person is actually a lot harder than it seems. I'm very particular about things... If I saw the first one again, I'd [say], 'Oh man, I wish I actually did this and did that.' So I'd actually want to take the character to a whole new level, but then it wouldn't be the same character again," the actor added.
He revealed that seeing the documentary called "Superheroes" gave him new ideas for approaching the character.
"These are the real characters. And there were some really quirky guys in there and I'd do impersonations of them and go, 'Wouldn't it be great if Kick-Ass and Dave was a bit more like this,'" he added. "That's funny, but that's not Dave. I'd be like 'Damn, damn it. I wish I'd kind of just re-did it again.' And that's just play in my head. And it was totally wrong."
"It did mess with my head a little bit if I'm honest," he concluded.