Aaron Johnson Discusses the Alternate Ending of Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2
Posted 04.17.10 by BrentJS
Director Matthew Vaughn's atypical superhero movie, Kick-Ass, opened nationwide yesterday and, despite being one of the most hyped movies in recent memory, the title star of the movie, Aaron Johnson, is taking it all in stride. The 20-year-old actor from High Wycombe, England, recently spoke with CinemaBlend about fame, the fight choreography (or lack thereof) behind his action sequences in Kick-Ass, and what to expect in the
inevitable sequel. Caution: SPOILERS AHEAD.
If Kick-Ass turns out to be the colossal hit that many have predicted it to be, Johnson could very well turn out to be the next Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner, yet Johnson is surprisingly humble about his role in the movie.
I don't think you ever try to let something like this sink in. What am I supposed to do, am I supposed to give myself a pat on the f*cking back? You've got to keep your feet on the ground and be gracious and humble about these things. I don't think anyone deserves to be a f*cking diva about these things. Yeah the hype has been ridiculous, and the fans have been enthusiastic, and it's been great. I'm lucky to be part of something like this.
While most action sequences in modern movies are heavily choreographed ahead of time, Johnson said that most of his fight sequences in Kick-Ass were improvised or choreographed "on the spot" because Vaughn wanted his fights to look "natural."
[The donut shop fight] was one of my favorites, yeah. We just improvised it there and then choreographed. It was choreographed there, and I picked up the routine, and then we said "What if we put in a thing here, what if he smacked my head with a trash can." We did it there and then. There was a special camera as well that was in a big foam board, and they threw the camera and smashed it up and knocked it about.
In the movie, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) makes a joke that Kick-Ass should be called "Ass-Kick" instead because he takes a pretty good beating in his crimefighting debut on YouTube. In fact, Kick-Ass pretty much sits on the sidelines throughout the second half of the movie while Big Daddy and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) go to town on the bad guys. Johnson said that after the final scenes were shot and edited Vaughn realized that Kick-Ass never had his "hero" moment and decided to change the ending. Stop reading now if you don't want to know the ending.
My character never became a hero at any point throughout the movie, and [in the original cut] Hit-Girl dropkicks Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) off the edge of the building. And six months later we came back and they made an alternative ending, and we reshot it, that my character picked up the bazooka and shot him off the edge. Matthew edited the movie and was like, f*ck, he's this pathetic kid who never gets his break, and can't be a hero. There were moments where they tried to introduce my character as a bit of a hero, and a bit more charming to look at.
Despite Vaughn's change of heart about Kick-Ass' role in the ending, Johnson said that fans should not expect to find Kick-Ass to be more of a tough-guy in Kick-Ass 2.
I don't think my character should change too much. If I came back it was like, oh yeah, Kick-Ass is now bulky, and he can fight. That's not Kick-Ass. No one would give a f*ck then. My character, Dave Lizewski, when he's Kick-Ass he's still Dave Lizewski, he's still just a kid who loves comic books. He's just persistent, he's got a lot of heart and soul. That's who he is, that's why you like him, you relate to him. If he came back like f*cking Arnold Schwarzenegger, it would be dumb. You don't want that person to change. If Kick-Ass became more like Hit-Girl, it would be boring.
Next Showing: Kick-Ass is in theaters now