On Monday, Latinos Post published the first part in a two-part series on the "Kick-Ass 2" press conference. The first piece detailed the three young actors Chloe Grace Moretz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse talking about returning to the roles that launched them into stardom.
Additionally, the thespians and director Jeff Wadlow also detailed the thematic qualities of their characters as well as the physical demands and travails they encountered throughout the filming process. Latinos Post was present at the conference in New York City.
Mintz-Plasse plays the super villain in the film know as the Motherf***er. The baddie's main goal is to create an army of henchmen that will help him find his nemesis Kick-Ass so that he can enact revenge against him.
One reporter asked the young actor if there were any redeeming qualities to his super villain; Mintz-Plasse was lost for words initially but eventually found his way.
"I think the one redeeming quality about... I mean he is a villain. It's hard to have a redeeming quality but the fact that he lost his family is the one thing that you kind of believe and if you're rooting for him... that's the one redeeming quality. You understand why he's doing what he's doing," he said.
When another reporter brought up the fact that the Motherf***er killed his mother, Mintz-Plasse joked, "Yea but she spoiled him."
However, the rest of the cast and crew jumped to the character's defense.
"It was an accident. He didn't maliciously [do it]," said co-star Moretz who plays Hit-Girl/Mindy McCready.
The conversation then shifted to Moretz's character and where all of her psychological issues came from. "I'd definitely say [Hit-Girl has] daddy issues," she asserted. "I mean, she watched her father burn in front of her and held him in his last moments while he died. So I definitely think she has daddy issues."
In the first film, the 11-year-old girl witnesses her father get killed despite her best efforts to save him. After the loss, her father's former cop partner Markus takes her in. Moretz noted that this new relationship creates the character's greatest conflict in the sequel.
"She's lost in many ways. She's just trying to figure out who she is," she said.
At this point, Wadlow chimed in about the general arc of the three characters in the movie.
"One thing we all talked about for all three of their characters, is that in the first film they created these alter-egos," he explained. "But in this film, they had to figure out who they really were. Who Dave and Chris and Mindy really were."
Regarding Moretz's character, he was quick to define her true identity.
"I think the answer for Chloe's character is that she is Hit-Girl. It doesn't matter if she has a purple wig on. She's a super hero," he said.
Aside from the thematic elements of the characters, the actors also talked about the physical elements that were required in this movie.
One reporter noted that Taylor-Johnson, who plays Kick-Ass/Dave Lizewski, was "jacked" and asked the actor how he trained for the role.
"There are a lot more fight sequences in this movie. Especially for my character," he revealed. "So I did a lot of fight training. A lot of MMA, boxing, jujitsu. Things like that. That gets you properly into shape."
However, he noted that all the work was ultimately pointless in the film.
"And then I'd go on the set and Chloe would kick the [expletive] out of me," he joked. "So it didn't really matter how ripped or how in shape you'd be [because] she'd still throw me across the room."
The film is filled with a number of action sequences, many of which showcase the actors in tight framings. The three actors revealed that they did a number of stunts and lived through some "hairy" moments.
Taylor-Johnson then revealed that Mintz-Plasse punched him in the face during the big fight scene at the end of the film and made him bleed.
"I think that's because we'd just get so slow and exhausted so we actually end up hitting each other," said Taylor-Johnson.
"I'd have to dodge punches with 50 pounds of leather on my body. It was mainly just exhaustion and being tired," added Mintz-Plasse before asserting that he had "no battle wounds."
Moretz also talked about an action sequence in which she boards a moving van and must save Kick-Ass.
"I think the fight scene I got most beat up on was that van. That van really really beat me up," she emphasized before explaining that she actually had to roll around on an actual van. "My whole entire rib cage was purple and blue. I was just beat up because they were whipping me around. At one point, they whipped too hard and I slid... sideways and [hit myself hard]. I couldn't breathe. So crazy."
However, the scariest moment on set featured Moretz's double. Taylor-Johnson noted that Moretz did all of her stunts except for one moment where Mother Russia kicks the small girl across the room and she crashes into a glass table that ruptures into pieces. The double wound up injured from the impact in the stunt.
"She cut her head open," revealed Wadlow.
"They used the hydraulic system," explained Moretz. "It wasn't man powered... they pulled her an inch too far and she cracked her head on a bar."
"She hit the corner edge of a table," added Taylor-Johnson.
Read the first part of the press conference recap here.
Read an exclusive interview with John Leguizamo here.
Check out Latinos Post's Kick-Ass 2 review here.
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