1. Kick-Ass Research
Nathan Simmons

2. The Idea
Kick-Ass the movie is originated from Marvel’s Comics Kick-Ass created by Scottish writer
Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr. It is the story of Dave Lizewski, a teenager
who sets out to become a real life superhero. His actions are publicized on the Internet and
inspire others. He gets caught up with ruthless vigilantes Hit-Girl and Big Daddy who are on
a mission to take down the gangster John Genovese.
Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn the director co-wrote the screenplay for the movie.
Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman Kick-Ass Movie
Poster
Kick-Ass Comic
Book

3. Development Finance
Vaughn initially went to Sony, which distributed his directorial debut film Layer
Cake who wanted to toned down the violence in the film which Matthew Vaughn
disagreed with. Other studio expressed interest but wanted to make the characters
older. Studios in particular wanted to change Hit-Girl’s character which Jane
Goldman disagreed with.
Kick-Ass was independently financed as many studios felt that the film would be
too violent and offensive for audiences. Matthew Vaughn secured the financing
for the film.
Kick-Ass had many producers to help raise funding, hire key personnel, and
arranging for distributors for the film. The films producers: Matthew Vaughn, Brad
Pitt who owns Plan B Entertainment, Kris Thykier who produced The Debt which
screenplay was written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, Adam Bohling and
Tarquin Pack who produced X-Men: First Class with Vaughn directing the film, and
also David Reid who produced Layer Cake. All these producers helped to produced
Kick-Ass.

4. Script Development
• As Vaughn had no studio at the time to back the film, he had little trouble adapting the
comics into a screenplay.
• Millar and the screenwriters tried to keep as close to the comic books feel and plot, yet
some characters had to be changed to attract more audiences not just the fans of the
comic.
• There are many differences between the film and the comic, but none that alter the
storyline too much. For example one of the many differences in the comic and the film
is, Kick-Ass has been shown to be the only character in the film with a similar costume
to his comic book counterpart. All of the other main characters have different costumes
in the film

5. Pre-Production
Casting:
Casting for Kick-Ass was done by Sarah Finn and Lucinda Syson. Finn has done casting for other
films based off marvel comic books.
• Aaron Johnson portrays Dave Lizewski and Kick-Ass. Johnson was the right age range for the
part. Christopher Mintz-Plasse originally auditioned for the role of Kick-Ass, but during the
audition the producers believed that his acting was too loud and obnoxious for the lead, so
they immediately gave Mintz-Plasse the role of Red Mist instead.
• Nicolas Cage portrays Damon Macready and Big Daddy. Vaughn described Cage's
performance as a little bit Elvis and a little bit Adam West. A character in the film even says
his costume looks like that of Batman.
• Chloë Grace Moretz portrays Mindy Macready and Hit-Girl. Vaughn commented on the
maturity of Moretz, who said that because she has four older brothers, she was no stranger
to much of the language in the script.
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Chris D'Amico and Red Mist: Frank D'Amico's son
• Mark Strong portrays Frank D'Amico: The head of a criminal organization. Strong says he is
drawn to playing the antagonist.
Aaron Johnson Nicolas Cage Chloë Grace Moretz
Christopher
Mintz-Plasse
Mark Strong

6. The Shoot
Filming locations include Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Dip 'N' Sip Donuts on Kingston Road in Toronto,
Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, and "many Toronto landmarks that play cameos”; and various
locations in the UK, including Elstree Studios.
The opening sequence with Nicolas Cage was filmed in a sewage plant in East London.
The Atomic Comics store in the film is based on the real-life chain whose owner, Millar said, is a friend
of artist John Romita Jr.'s. Millar asked Mike Malve for permission to use Atomic Comics in the film,
and a model version of Atomic Comics was created at the London pilot studio for use in the filming.
Atomic Comics Store in
Mesa, Arizona, USA
Dip 'N' Sip Donuts in Toronto.
This is used in Kick-Ass’s first
fight scene.
Elstree Studios

7. Post-Production
The soundtrack for Kick-Ass has various artist. It includes 14 tracks and was released on
29 March 2010 .
The film's score was released on 17 May 2010 in the UK. Two of the instrumentals in
the film are altered versions of songs from other John Murphy composed soundtracks.
The score includes 39 tracks and one track, “walk To Rasul’s “ was composed by Danny
Elfman, who was referenced in the original comic.
The is the album cover for
the Kick-Ass soundtrack
The is the album cover for
Kick-Ass: The Score

8. Marketing/Exhibition
Marketing:
• There were a few TV spots for Kick-Ass
• There were three trailers released: A teaser trailer, extended trailer, and a
international trailer.
• Movie poster were released.
• Interviews with the cast and crew on set and other interviews which they
all spoke positively about the film itself.
Exhibition:
• The film had a few premieres with one in London
• The film was released on the 26th March 2010 in the UK and was released
on the 16th April 2010 in the United States.
• On the opening weekend it made £3.8 million in the UK with it being
shown on 402 screens. In the USA it made just under $20 million with it
being shown on 3,065 screens.
• The films final worldwide gross was $96,188,903

9. Other windows
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 3 August 2010 in North America. This
version does not contain the aforementioned deleted content. Selling 1.4 million units
within its first week, one-third of these in Blu-ray format, Kick-Ass debuted at number
one on the DVD sales chart. The discs were released in the United Kingdom on 6
September 2010.
A video game was released for iPhone/ipod touches in April 2010. Yet it received very
negative reviews.
A sequel to the film is currently being shot including most of the original cast. The film
is said to be released on the 28th June 2013. Including Jim Carrey and scrubs’ Donald
Faison.