Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz Kick-Ass 2

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz Kick-Ass 2

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Rated: MA
Running Time: 103 minutes

Synopsis: Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Red Mist return for the follow-up to 2010's irreverent global hit: Kick-Ass 2. After Kick-Ass' do-it-yourself bravery inspires a new wave of self-made masked crusaders, led by the badass Colonel Stars and Stripes, our hero joins them on patrol. When these amateur superheroes are hunted down by Red Mist "reborn as super-villain The Motherf%&*‏^r"only the blade-wielding Hit Girl can prevent their annihilation.

When we last saw junior assassin Hit Girl and young masked hero Kick-Ass, they were trying to live as normal teenagers Mindy and Dave. With graduation looming and uncertain what to do with their shared calling, Dave decides to start the world's first superhero team with Mindy. Unfortunately, when Mindy is busted for sneaking out as Hit Girl, she's forced to retire"leaving her to navigate the terrifying world of high-school mean girls on her own. With no one left to turn to, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, run by a born-again ex-mobster named Colonel Stars and Stripes.

Just as they start to make a real difference on the streets, a new self-proclaimed super-villain, The Motherf%&*^r‏, assembles his own evil league and puts a plan in motion to make Kick-Ass and Hit Girl pay for what they did to his dad. But there's only one problem with his scheme: If you mess with one member of Justice Forever, you mess with them all.

Kick Ass 2
Release Date: August 22nd, 2013

About the Production

Write It to Make It: Kick-Ass Is Reborn

'Kick-Ass," the revolutionary creator-owned comic that Mark Millar launched with artist John S. Romita Jr. in 2008, challenged curious readers with one simple question: 'Why has nobody ever tried to become a superhero?" The two men answered that query with a barrage of violence, memorable characters and quotable dialogue.

Freshly buoyed by the blockbuster success of the Universal actioner Wanted"based on his same-titled book"Mark Millar began to explore the possibility of bringing 'Kick-Ass" to the big screen. Because 'Kick-Ass" was an independent comic, this allowed the creators greater freedom in approaching production partners who would appreciate the series' bracingly unique storylines.

Around that time, director Matthew Vaughn was looking for his next project and had recently been introduced to Mark Millar by Stardust co-writer Jane Goldman and her husband, Jonathan Ross. Mark Millar later pitched Matthew Vaughn a number of ideas, but it was Kick-Ass that resonated most. Matthew Vaughn was determined to apply the same anarchic spirit of the comic to the filmic version"even if that meant including scenes in which an 11-year-old Hit Girl mows down dozens of heavily armed men with an arsenal of weaponry and a string of expletives. When turned down by Hollywood's major studios, Matthew Vaughn decided to finance Kick-Ass independently.

Scripted by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, Kick-Ass brought to the screen the wild story of Dave Lizewski, an ordinary Manhattan teenager who sets out to become a real-life superhero. Donning a green-and-yellow wet suit and calling himself Kick-Ass, he captures the imagination of the public and becomes an online phenomenon. Kick-Ass soon discovers he is not the city's only superhero when he meets a fearless and highly trained father-daughter crime-fighting duo"the cowl-draped Big Daddy and ninja assassin Hit Girl. As Kick-Ass becomes entangled in their quest to take down the criminal empire of local mafioso Frank D'Amico, our hero gains a nemesis of his own: Frank's teenage son, Chris, who has taken to calling himself Red Mist.

The movie was nothing short of a huge gamble, but one that the filmmakers were prepared to take. Kick-Ass was lensed in 2008, with Matthew Vaughn showing it to potential distributors a year later. He subsequently sealed deals with Lionsgate and Universal Pictures to release it in the U.S. and internationally, respectively, in 2010. Kick-Ass was met with astonishing reviews such as Richard Corliss' Time magazine rave: 'It soars, jet-propelled, on its central idea of matching a superhero's exploits with the grinding reality of urban teen life and on the aerodynamic smoothness of the film's style."

Although the groundbreaking film caused some critics to raise their eyebrows in dismay, it was adored by audiences who understood Matthew Vaughn's strong desire to upend the genre. In turn, the movie pulled in almost $100 million globally, proved enormously successful on DVD/Blu-ray metrics and gained a passionate following along the way.

All the while, Mark Millar and John Romita continued the work on their homegrown saga. The first chapter of their follow-up comic series, 'Kick-Ass 2, Issue 1," debuted on October 20, 2010. Set several months after the events of the first run, the books reconnect us with Mindy and Dave as they struggle to keep their identities as Hit Girl and Kick-Ass a secret"while she trains him to be a better hero who can take a much-less-forgiving punch. Meanwhile, Red Mist returns with an increasingly psychotic new attitude and an unprintable name change to match. Forming a group of super-villains, Chris takes the deadly game to the next level as he attempts to exterminate the duo that killed his reprobate father.

Twenty-four hours after its release, 'Kick-Ass 2, Issue 1" sold out, and the 'Hit Girl" companion title has since become the most popular comic book with a female lead in more than a decade. The first two chapters of the 'Kick-Ass 3" series are currently in release, completing the trilogy and bringing Dave Lizewski's story to an exciting finish later this year.

Mark Millar walks us through the evolution of this signature property: 'Kick-Ass was about a guy deciding to become a superhero and influencing others to do the same. Kick-Ass 2 takes that idea and runs with it. Now we have this group of people who, inspired by the heroics of Kick-Ass, have formed a crime-fighting gang, Justice Forever. At the same time, Chris is embarking on the opposite journey. He has decided to become a self-proclaimed super-villain and is recruiting his own army. It takes something that was singular in the first movie and makes it into something more exciting. It's that sense of escalation, of expansion, that you always want with a sequel."

As Mark Millar and John Romita created the characters and own the rights to them, the two men take the fate of our everyday superheroes very seriously. John Romita explains that he and Mark Millar have just as much invested in the fate of Dave, Mindy and the other members of Justice Forever as the diehard fans do, and it is tough to create bad situations that happen to them. The artist says: 'All of the interesting characters that are in Justice Forever, you want them to win. Here I am, a comic book artist, and I want these characters to be superheroes because I don't want anything bad happening to them. I like all of them."

Kick-Ass' unexpected success, set the stage for a sequel; however, it would take a couple years for the next chapter to begin production. Kicking off in 2011, Matthew Vaughn met with Cry Wolf director Jeff Wadlow to discuss a project known as Bloodshot. Jeff Wadlow had written the screenplay, and Vaughn was attached to direct.

Other commitments resulted in Matthew Vaughn's inability to continue with Bloodshot, but he remained interested in working with this intriguing young director. When Matthew Vaughn's obligations to the X-Men franchise wrapped him up for the foreseeable future, the filmmaker pondered abdicating both writing and directing duties to Jeff Wadlow, which would allow Matthew Vaughn to remain involved as a producer.

Jeff Wadlow was so adamant that Matthew Vaughn pass the mantle on to him, he set to work on a script without a deal yet in place. The filmmaker recalls: 'I wrote it to direct it, and I wasn't going to let anyone else do it. That's the upside of taking on the risk of writing the script without a deal in place, initially. Even though Matthew Vaughn and I talked a lot, I jumped before there was any real plan in place. I wanted to make the movie, and so I wrote it to make it."

Matthew Vaughn offers that Jeff Wadlow was just the director to take the reins. He commends: 'Jeff Wadlow's pitch for Bloodshot was damn impressive, and then his script came in. It was exactly what his pitch was, which in Hollywood is very rare. I liked him, and he had a passion for comics, especially for -Kick-Ass.'" Still, the passing of the torch wasn't immediate. Reflects Matthew Vaughn: 'Even though I want to give people breaks, it was a weird decision to hand this over to a director. I thought I have to find the right person who is hungry, but has experience and is passionate. As well, I like writer/directors because it means they can know how to write a screenplay. Sometimes, you can have a great script then you hire a director who does something totally different with it."

The producer catches us up with where Jeff Wadlow "basing his screenplay on Mark Millar and John Romita's source material"has taken our heroes: 'Dave goes to Mindy and says, -Look, train me up. I want to do this properly, and you and I can be the new Dynamic Duo.' Just as Dave's getting good and they're enjoying it, Mindy has to give it up. She makes a promise that she won't be Hit Girl anymore, and then Dave's left to his own devices. He's scared to do it on his own, so he teams up with a bunch of wannabe superheroes. But eight wannabe superheroes are still not replacing one little Hit Girl."

The producers weren't the only ones caught off guard by Jeff Wadlow's initiative and chutzpah. Commends Mark Millar: 'Matthew Vaughn was impressed with Jeff Wadlow. He wanted somebody who was both a writer and a director, with vision and passion, and not to have that division of labor that you often get. Jeff Wadlow was writing the story and telling the story as a director. A lot of things that Matthew Vaughn's very good at, Jeff Wadlow happens to be good at as well, so we knew that the film would be in very capable hands."

In bringing the characters back, Jeff Wadlow opted to dig deeper into the emotional aspects of their lives and expand our understanding of them. He says: 'My idea from the beginning was this notion that Dave, Mindy and Chris still don't know who they really are. In the first film, they created these alter egos"Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, Red Mist"but they hadn't answered those larger questions that we all ask ourselves: -Who am I? What's my place in this world? What am I going to do with my life?' It's one thing to try to be someone else, to be a superhero, but another to work out who you really are. I thought it would be interesting to have these characters ask themselves: -What's behind that mask?' Ultimately, the movie is about growing up."
Jeff Wadlow feels that the greatest strength of Kick-Ass as a burgeoning franchise is that it doesn't rely upon stock aphorisms common in genre fare. Jeff Wadlow continues: 'It's about the juxtapositions of superheroes and the real world. With Dave's story, we put him in a situation where he's trying to relate to other superheroes who are dealing with their real-world problems. With Mindy's story, we put her in high school. For Chris', we have him trying to be a super-villain in a world where it's not easy to be one."

Matthew Vaughn and Tarquin Pack's fellow returning producers, Adam Bohling and David Reid, appreciated that Jeff Wadlow built upon the carefully constructed first film and brought an American sensibility to the story. Reflects Pack: 'Kick-Ass had a quirky Englishness to it, whereas this sequel has a broader, more American, more mainstream feel. It still goes, by definition of the property, to places you can't go to in most films, but Jeff Wadlow handles it in an expansive manner. He has a strong visual sense and a strong idea of the movie that he wanted to make. As well, he's had very clear input into what changes there have been in the costume and production design."

To that point, Jeff Wadlow was more than okay with reassembling the skilled department heads from Kick-Ass"including production designer Russell De Rozario, editor Eddie Hamilton, costume designer Sammy Sheldon Differ and hair and makeup designer Fae Hammond. Says Jeff Wadlow: 'Matthew Vaughn told me, -These are the people I'm endorsing, as one filmmaker to another.' I knew I should embrace everyone who worked on the first film. They did such an incredible job; there was no reason to bring in new people. I took this amazing toolbox that Matthew Vaughn gave me and went to work."

Ass Kickers and Gravity Doctors: Who's Who in the Action-Comedy?

Considering the number of characters trying to either save or destroy our fair metropolis, it is logical to walk the reader through who does what to whom. Below is a guide to understanding the brave superheroes and nasty super-villains who populate this world. They're good, bad and/or ugly, but don't underestimate these formerly ordinary folks who just want to kick some ass.

Kick-Ass and Hit Girl's Inner Circle

Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a New York teenage vigilante whose bravery inspired a new wave of self-made masked crusaders. With graduation looming and uncertain of his future plans, Dave decides to start the world's first superhero team with Mindy, aka Hit Girl. When Mindy is busted for sneaking out as Hit Girl, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, run by a born-again ex-mobster who calls himself Colonel Stars and Stripes.

Mindy Macready/Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a 14-year-old, blade-wielding, nunchaku-skilled force of nature who is going through the awkward stages of freshman year. Highly trained and heavily armed by her late father, Big Daddy, she still can't escape the snide comments from the popular girls in her class. She'd rather kick some thug's ass than face high school, so she sneaks out as soon as her guardian drops her off.

After Mindy's father's death at the hands of Frank D'Amico, Big Daddy's old partner, Marcus Williams (MORRIS CHESTNUT), became her guardian. Marcus drops Mindy off at high school every day, but as soon as he leaves, so does she. He made Mindy promise she'd give up her extracurricular activities as Hit Girl, though he fears he'll find katana blades under her bed every time he looks.

Marty/Battle Guy (CLARK DUKE) and Todd/Ass Kicker (AUGUSTUS PREW) are Dave's comic-book collecting best friends. Though Marty plans to be premed at college, he has secretly developed a superhero persona named Battle Guy. Inspired by Kick-Ass, he excitedly joins Justice Forever. Todd's future plans are up in the air, though he currently plans to attend a safety school in Florida to study golf course management. Wanting to be a part of something important, Todd is eager to join any team that will have him.

Katie Deauxma (LYNDSY FONSECA) is Dave's super-cute girlfriend who is super-excited to get her life started. She plans to attend college, and Dave is expecting she'll dump him as soon as she heads off. The cute couple has started suffering from boredom in the bedroom: She fantasises about another guy while Dave daydreams about his English teacher.

Justice Forever

Sal Bertolini/Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) is a morally driven ex-mobster, a leader who is decked out in camouflage and an iconic mask. He patrols the streets with his trusted and masked sidekick, a German shepherd named Eisenhower. The Colonel created Justice Forever to protect people when the system fails, and he hates foul language as much as he hates evil.

One of the more enthusiastic members of Justice Forever, Dr. Gravity (DONALD FAISON) is a copywriter who pretends he's a physics professor by day and a superhero by night. His physics 'knowledge" comes in handy when he creates a zero-gravity device that can levitate any object up to a ton…but in fact, it's just a baseball bat covered in tin foil.

A ballet teacher by day, Miranda Swedlow assumed her superhero persona, Night Bitch (LINDY BOOTH), after her sister was murdered. Although she is helping Justice Forever fight crime, Night Bitch also gets closer to its newest member, Kick-Ass…in every fast-food restaurant bathroom in the city.
Insect Man (ROBERT EMMS) has been bullied his entire life for being gay, so now he's standing up for the defenseless. Armed with a taser (and an impossibly wealthy knowledge of bugs), Insect Man doesn't need a mask to make the world a better place.

Tommy's Mom and Dad/Remembering Tommy (MONICA DOLAN and STEVEN MACKINTOSH): In the comic series, Tommy's Dad wears a homemade suit of armor, while Tommy's Mom is dressed like an Amazonian warrior. In our story, they are decked out in T-shirts with the name 'Remembering Tommy" to honor their son who vanished without a trace.

The Motherf%&*‏^r's Super-Villains

The spoiled son of deceased crime boss Frank D'Amico, Chris D'Amico/Red Mist/The Motherf%&*‏^r (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has grown obsessed with taking revenge on Kick-Ass, who blew up Frank with a bazooka. After Chris' mother's (YANCY BUTLER) untimely death, Red Mist"freshly dressed in her old fetish gear and cape"is reborn as The Motherf%&*^r‏. So begins the richest kid in New York City's quest to become the world's first real super-villain.

Javier (JOHN LEGUIZAMO) is Chris' bodyguard, and he's reluctant to call his employer by an upgraded super-villain name (he had a hard enough time calling him Red Mist). The Alfred to his boss' evil Bruce Wayne, Javier is tasked with helping The Motherf%&*‏^r expand his super-villain team. Now that Chris has lost both parents, Javier is the only real family he has left.

The highest-paid member of The Motherf%&^*‏r's team, Katarina Dombrovski/ Mother Russia (OLGA KURKULINA) is a bodybuilder and former KGB member who can beat anyone to a pulp. She was locked up in the Gulag…until she ate her cellmate and escaped.

Black Death (DANIEL KALUUYA), of course named as such by The Motherf%&*^r‏, met Chris at an MMA gym, where he promptly kicked Chris' ass to the mat. Impressed, Chris hired Black Death to beat up anyone on his hit list.

Chris insists that his underling's names aren't racial stereotypes, they're archetypes. Genghis Carnage (TOM WU) is a former Chinese gangster looking for a new boss. The Motherf%&*^r‏ hires him to do his heavy lifting and heavier attacking.

Big Tony/The Tumor (ANDY NYMAN) is reminiscent of one of our favorite Goodfellas…all 5 feet 2 inches of him. Although this psychotic killer may be small, he's mean as hell and will stab you with a pool cue if you look at him funny.

It's Biology, Bitch: Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Red Mist Grow Up

As he crafted the story, Wadlow wanted Kick-Ass 2 to give fans another chance to see three characters that they fell in love with, to see how they have grown and how they will continue to change. The writer/director reflects: 'I hope it resonates with audiences because it's not just a retread of the first movie. It's not one of those sequels that says, -Hey! Remember how much you loved the first movie? Well, here's another version of that.'"

If anything, his story does the exact opposite. Wadlow adds: 'We say, -Remember how much you loved those characters? Well, guess what? We're going to put them through a meat grinder.' We've sent them on this journey where they're going to grow and change in ways you can't imagine. We've pushed them further than you could in a first film because of all that screen time you needed to use getting to know them. We assume you already know and like them, and we're going to take all that time and push them even further."

While a sequel was always a finger-crossed hope, it had actually been four years since the original cast made Kick-Ass. At the end of that film, Dave goes back to his old life, and his alter ego is gone but not forgotten by a new wave of aspiring superheroes. However, life after Kick-Ass moved on significantly for the actor who was portraying the hero. Now married and a father of two, Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been working for the likes of Oliver Stone and Joe Wright but always remained interested in revisiting his breakout role, if the filmmakers could deliver something as equally original and refreshing as Kick-Ass.

The British performer appreciated that Dave was never out to hurt anyone. He simply wanted to stand up for the helpless while others sat idle. Aaron Taylor-Johnson reflects: 'What's great about Dave is that he doesn't want to kill people. Mindy, for fun, will slice someone's hand off, but that's not what inspired Dave to become a superhero. For him, it's about being good, about fighting crime and not becoming part of it."

Jeff Wadlow's taut script ensured his return: 'Jeff Wadlow did a fantastic job," commends Aaron Taylor-Johnson. 'We all loved it, and that's the main reason it took off." Discussing how it feels to step back into the part, the actor says: 'It's bizarre repeating something you've already done, so I needed to step it up a few levels. Dave is the person we already know, but he's beginning to discover himself, growing into a man and taking responsibility for his actions. This time, the consequences weigh heavily on his shoulders, and he really understands that."

Aaron Taylor-Johnson felt as the producers did: Jeff Wadlow's script brought a deep emotional core to a story about a young man who discovers his mission to try and save others. 'From the moment we met, we connected," adds the performer. 'He was sincere and passionate about it, and interested in creating a journey for Dave. It was never just about how much action we could deliver. Behind the stunts and the fighting, there's always a motive. You must start to link the emotion to the motive that is behind the punch, and Jeff Wadlow was interested in developing that."

Jeff Wadlow admits that Aaron Taylor-Johnson's work in the first movie drew him to pushing to develop the second chapter of Dave/Kick-Ass' story. When the filmmaker met the actor, he was even more impressed: 'I have so much respect for Aaron Taylor-Johnson. While many actors approach their role wanting to look cool"to always be appealing, to be the center of attention in each scene"what they lose sight of is that we're telling a story, which their character is a piece of, even if they're the lead. It was clear to me from the moment I met Aaron Taylor-Johnson how special he was. He immediately started talking about the story and the role that Dave plays in telling that story, as well as what he could do to help it along. He wanted the lamest tennis shoes, ill-fitting T-shirts and a dorky haircut for Dave when we first reconnect with him."

Kick-Ass wouldn't be half the hero he is without Hit Girl, and no sequel would begin production without her in the mix. Imagined by Millar as a tribute to his eldest daughter, Hit Girl has struck a chord with readers since her introduction and grown exponentially in popularity. The young woman who brought her to life, Chloë Grace Moretz, has been working up a storm"earning critical acclaim in such fare as Let Me In, as well as working with the likes of Martin Scorsese in Hugo and Tim Burton in Dark Shadows and soon to be seen starring opposite Julianne Moore as the title character in the remake of Carrie. Like her co-stars, she was thrilled to step back into her Kick-Ass role as Hit Girl, unfazed by the commotion caused by her appearance the first time around.

For the 2010 film, the now 16-year-old actress took the world by roundhouse kick with not only her acting abilities, but her phenomenal mastery of weaponry and martial arts. Indeed, Chloe Grace Moretz didn't know she was prescient when she joked at the premiere of the first film that she wanted to ride a purple Ducati: Hit Girl's bike of choice in Kick-Ass 2. Laughs Chloe Grace Moretz: 'To get in the costume again and do all the stunts was pretty amazing. I've had such a great time reliving the character and bringing in more dimensions, while taking an older approach to the role. I liked seeing what I could play with in the part."

We meet a now-orphaned 9th grader in Kick-Ass 2, a girl who is more terrified of the treacherous girls in school than she ever was of the villains that she and Big Daddy took down. Chloe Grace Moretz describes where we meet Mindy: 'She's skipping school, still being a vigilante and caring more about Hit Girl's life than Mindy's. Because she doesn't have Big Daddy anymore, and Marcus is much more of a normal parent than Big Daddy, she starts to question herself. She promises Marcus she'll stop being Hit Girl and begins to figure out her life a bit. The thing is…Mindy can't really change."

One of Hit Girl's creators discusses Hit Girl's evolution in dealing with a different kind of villain: teenage girls, led by queen bee/varsity dance captain Brooke (CLAUDIA LEE). John Romita offers: 'Mindy's not the normal child. So instead of going home and crying and punching a pillow, she enacts revenge in a certain way that everybody wishes they could enact on a bully. She's teaching Kick-Ass how to be a superhero, and he's teaching her how to be a normal girl."

Drawing on the source material, Jeff Wadlow and the producers were interested in exploring what happens when Mindy stops being Hit Girl and grapples with life and love as a high-school student. The director felt that no other performer but Moretz could possibly deliver that. He says: 'There's something incredibly special about Chloë Grace Moretz that is hard to describe and quantify, but when you see her on screen you instantly understand. As a director, it was exciting for me to work with someone like her, because normally I like to dissect the character and intellectualise the story. Chloë Grace Moretz just gets it immediately; she doesn't need me to pontificate."

Jeff Wadlow found that the usual manner of directing an actor wouldn't work with Chloe Grace Moretz. He proudly says: 'Chloë Grace Moretz understands how to create a moment in a way that you can't teach or talk about it. She just does it, and she does it every take. It's funny because we'd talk about a scene, about where I wanted it to go or how it fits into the larger story, and sometimes I'd wonder if what I was saying even made sense. But then we'd shoot it, and Chloë Grace Moretz would deliver"take after take. I don't think of her as a kid at all. I talk to her as a peer because she is so incredibly savvy and mature, but also willing to be goofy and not at all self-conscious. She's just an amazing actress."

Rounding out the trio of returning badasses is Chris D'Amico. At the end of Kick-Ass, Chris D'Amico's alter ego, Red Mist, turns to the camera and says, 'As a great man once said, -Wait 'til they get a load of me.' A nod to Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, this hints at the super-villain he plans to become: a young man obsessed with avenging the death of his father and assembling a group of fellow super-villains to lead. It was lucky then that Christopher Mintz-Plasse was ready to sign up for another outing.

In the intervening years since he shot the first movie, Christopher Mintz-Plasse has been extremely busy on screens big and small: lending his voice to DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon and Focus Features' ParaNorman, appearing in the hit comedies This Is the End and Pitch Perfect, as well as in television series including The Far Cry Experience and Friend Me.

Although Chris D'Amico has now inherited his family fortune, he is still very much a bad guy in training. And although his Uncle Ralph (IAIN GLEN) is in maximum security at Riker's Island, Ralph is still ruling over the local Mafia. That won't stop Chris D'Amico from evolving into something even more evil. 'It's great to be back in this world," says the performer, 'though it's a lot different now. My father's dead, my mom is a pill-popping psycho, and Red Mist has turned to the dark side and is obsessed with killing Kick-Ass." Hell-bent on recruiting an evil army, Red Mist reinvents himself as The Motherf%&*^r‏ and gets ready to wreak havoc on New York City, with a single-minded obsession to kill Kick-Ass.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse discusses his full evolution: 'Christopher Mintz-Plasse slowly starts to realise he's becoming The Motherf%&*‏^r. He's lost everybody he loves: all his friends, all his family, and he's lost himself too. Once he puts on that full outfit and loses Javier, he's no longer Chris D'Amico. He's only The Motherf%&*‏^r."

Jeff Wadlow was as impressed with Mintz-Plasse as he was with his other two leads. He commends: 'Chris is a comedic genius. He is so funny, so fearless and a tremendous actor"so much more than just a comedic actor. He is phenomenal in this film, and people are going to be blown away by what he does. I would like to take some credit for it, like somehow I had this grand plan for him, but all the credit goes to him because he knocked it out of the park."

We Brought Our Friends: Meet Justice Forever

When Marcus, Big Daddy's former partner and Mindy's guardian, makes Mindy retire from her dangerous after-school job as Hit Girl, Dave joins forces with Justice Forever, a vigilante group of masked crusaders. Jeff Wadlow explains this super-team's role in the plot: 'A big part of the movie focuses on these characters trying to find who they are and defining themselves through the company they keep. Dave starts feeling like a superhero when he's hanging out with superheroes, and there are three characters in the mix who personify that sense of belonging: the Colonel, who is a real father figure for him; Dr. Gravity, who becomes his new best buddy; and Night Bitch, who becomes his new romantic interest. You see Dave enjoying being a part of this group through these relationships, especially."

In charge of recruiting and leading Justice Forever is Colonel Stars and Stripes, a morally driven ex-mobster, played by the incomparable comedy superstar Jim Carrey. Decked out in camouflage gear and a mask, the Colonel patrols the streets with his trusted and masked sidekick, a German shepherd named Eisenhower. A fusion of Colonel Stars and Lieutenant Stripes from Millar and Romita's book, the Colonel is as tough as he is unpredictable.

Discussing Colonel Stars and Stripes, Jeff Wadlow muses: 'I don't think -wild card' begins to describe the Colonel. The character is a bit of a cipher, even on the page. He's a born-again Christian; he's an ex-mob enforcer; nobody knows what his deal is. Jim Carrey was at the top of our list from the very beginning, but I thought it would never happen. This is not a massive movie, and he is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. So when we found out he was a fan of the franchise and he might be interested, obviously we pursued him doggedly. When I finally got on the phone with him, I knew that he was going to do something special. The way he carried himself, the way he transformed his body, and the way he moved...he just crafted a character that is not at all what people expect from either Jim Carrey or from the Colonel."

'Jim Carrey had clear ideas about how he wanted to play it, and he went the extra mile to get it done," adds Pack, referring to the prosthetics and teeth Carrey had made to transform his face and look more like Romita's illustrations. The producer continues: 'Jim Carrey is such a fantastic comedian that it's easy to overlook that he's a brilliant, serious actor, too. In combining those talents in this character, Jim Carrey created something extraordinary."

Best known for his starring role in television's long-running Scrubs, Donald Faison plays Dr. Gravity, one of the more enthusiastic members of Justice Forever. Wadlow explains how Faison became an integral part of the team: 'I knew Donald Faison from a TV show he did with me a couple years ago. When we were casting Dr. Gravity, I kept saying, -We have to find someone like Donald Faison.' Finally, I said, -Why don't we get Donald to do it?' I asked if he would be willing to come to London, and he said, -Dude, you just made my life! I've been dying to play a superhero; it would be my pleasure.' We're lucky to have him because he epitomises the enthusiasm that Dr. Gravity has for being a superhero."

Actress Lindy Booth, who appeared in Jeff Wadlow's first feature film, Cry_Wolf, and in Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, plays the awesomely named Night Bitch. Ballet teacher Miranda Swedlow assumes the superhero persona after her sister is brutally murdered. Night Bitch patrols the streets with Kick-Ass at her side, and the attraction she feels toward him is very much mutual. Ultimately, it's Night Bitch who explains to Kick-Ass that although they tried to make the world a better place, their superhero antics actually might have made it worse.

The Justice Forever team is rounded out by Insect Man, played by British film, stage and television actor Robert Emms, whose recent credits include Steven Spielberg's War Horse and Tarsem Singh's Mirror Mirror. Tired of getting bullied his whole life for being gay, Insect Man has decided it is time to stand up for the defenseless, and is the only superhero not to wear a mask because it'd be too much like 'being in the closet."

Accomplished British actors of stage and screen, Steven Mackintosh and Monica Dolan appear as Tommy's Dad and Tommy's Mom, who have created the superhero duo Remembering Tommy to honor their son who vanished. They wear masks and tracksuits, as well as T-shirts that read 'Remembering Tommy."

It's at the Justice Forever headquarters that Dave's friend, Marty, reveals his superhero persona, Battle Guy (after a far-fetched story that sounds awfully derivative of Bruce Wayne's rise to crime fighter). Reprising his role from Kick-Ass as Marty is Clark Duke. Joining the franchise is Augustus Prew, a self-proclaimed massive fan of the first film, who jumped at the opportunity when the original Todd, Evan Peters, was not available. Todd desperately wants to join his best friends in Justice Forever, but their jokes about his alter ego's derivative name don't sit well with the man known as Ass Kicker.

Psychopaths Welcome: The Super-Villains Unite

In July 2012, a casting call went out for a 'Classic Villain," a role that applicants would later learn was for the aptly named Mother Russia." The online flier requested 'a 'roided-out female bodybuilder" who 'needs to be extremely physically imposing and muscular, though still come across as feminine and as tall as possible (6'-and-over only)." Mother Russia, an ex-KGB officer who is now being paid weekly by Chris to wreak havoc, is the most skilled and ruthless killer in the game.

The filmmakers were inundated with applications and trawled through hundreds of hopefuls before they found their woman in the shape of Russian bodybuilder and fitness model Olga Kurkulina. Standing an impressive 6'2" and sporting a chiseled 200 pounds of pure muscle, Olga Kurkulina recalls seeing the casting call on Facebook. Via her on-set translator, she offers: 'I fell in love with Mother Russia at first sight. From the first moment I saw her, I said: -This part is mine. I won't let anybody else get it.'"

Although she was delighted to play the role, it proved quite a challenge for Olga Kurkulina, who had never acted before and didn't speak a word of English.

Jeff Wadlow found Olga Kurkulina to be 'a force of nature." He compliments: 'Olga Kurkulina was a real discovery for us, and we knew the biggest challenge in making this movie would be casting that part. If you look at my Internet search history, it's quite disturbing. There are all these bodybuilder fetish sites and weird places where I was trolling, looking for women over six feet. Fortunately, after a global search, we found Olga. The credit goes to Reg Poerscout-Edgerton, our casting director. I'll never forget when he came into my office with a photo of Olga and said: -This is Mother Russia.'"

To a person, the members of the cast and crew loved having the first-time actress on set. Sums Jeff Wadlow: 'Olga Kurkulina was a joy to work with because she was so enthusiastic. She doesn't speak English, but she was so excited to be a part of the movie that she worked as hard"if not harder"than anyone else. She was constantly training, learning to fight and working on the dialogue. She had to do some very difficult stuff, not just the acting, but a number of physical things she'd never done before."

Olga Kurkulina shot her first scenes on location in Toronto. Recalls Pack: 'We had acting coaches come in to work with her. She did a lot of training, and of course we had a full-time translator. But there was still that moment, as we were building up to her first day, where we thought: -Is this going to work out?' A film crew is a hundred people, a lot of lights, cameras and people who know what they're doing. Olga had never done this before. On her first day when she emerged out of her car in full Mother Russia regalia, I thought, -This is going to be the moment where it all ends up being too much for her.' But she totally nailed it and just loved it."

The new thespian had another fan in her on-screen boss, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who raves: 'Olga Kurkulina was incredible in this. You see her, and she's just muscular and ripped and intimidating. But then you have a conversation with her, and she's the sweetest woman you'll ever meet. Every morning, she was giving kisses as she greeted you."

Mother Russia isn't the only hired muscle watching The Motherf%&*^r‏'s back. Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo plays Javier, Chris' bodyguard. Now that Chris has lost both parents, Javier is the only real family he has left. Wadlow acknowledges how privileged the filmmakers were to have landed Leguizamo: 'Chris and John had such a great relationship, and I've enjoyed working with him so much. John is brilliant at improvising but also understands that we're telling a larger story. We'd do take after take where he'd just be killing me with great improvs, giving me all these wonderful options to use in the edit."

Javier was tasked with helping The Motherf%&*^r‏ recruit his evil army, a group of super-villains tasked with various evil assignments. This included enlisting Black Death, played by Daniel Kaluuya, who meets Chris at a mixed-martial arts (MMA) gym. Another terrific set crafted by production designer Russell De Rozario, the gym was home to none other than CHUCK 'THE ICEMAN" LIDDELL, the retired MMA fighter and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion.

After Black Death shows Chris who is boss in the octagon, Chris hires him to beat up anyone on his hit list. Javier also finds Big Tony/The Tumor, played by English actor and magician Andy Nyman, a psychotic thug who is small but likes to kill. Rounding out the principal baddies is Genghis Carnage, an out-of-work ex-Triad officer. Played by British actor TOM WU, a martial arts expert whose skills have been put to the test in films such as Revolver and Batman Begins, Genghis Carnage is just as efficient with a blade as Hit Girl.

Girl on the Roof: Design, Locations and Costumes

Shooting for Kick-Ass 2 began in Toronto, which doubled for New York, in fall 2012. Approximately a month after the start of principal photography, the unit relocated to the U.K. to shoot at Pinewood Studios, with some locations work in London. Most notably, the team shot on Denmark Street, aka 'Tin Pan Alley," famous for its iconic music stores and venues.

Several of the film's standout comedic scenes take place in Justice Forever's homemade headquarters, a set superbly crafted by De Rozario that was housed on the stages of Pinewood Studios. This set is a place that nobody else wants: a rundown basement with low ceilings and paint-chipped walls, not to mention a mishmash of thrown-out furniture. Just like the people inhabiting it, nobody seems to care much about the space.

Exterior sequences of the Justice Forever team fighting crime were shot in downtown Toronto. These filming days drew attention from the public and paparazzi alike, as the team"led by Colonel Stars and Stripes"patrolled the streets looking to do good deeds and to vanquish villains.

No super-villain leader should suffer for lack of style. Therefore, De Rozario fashioned a hardcore environment for Chris D'Amico that would befit his new incarnation: an evil lair. Built in a massive workshop at Pinewood Studios, the ultimate man cave is understood to be a place Chris uncovered within his dad's criminal empire. Painted in The Motherf%&*‏^r's signature colors, red and black, the space contains pool tables and arcade machines, huge plasma screen televisions, a bar, cages for topless dancers and cars such as a Ferrari F40, as well as several BMWs. The pièce de résistance? A massive aquarium that houses a live shark.

A fresh persona requires a brand new image, and when Chris' mother throws away his Red Mist costume, it's the perfect opportunity to acquire an upgraded one. After his mother's death, Chris stumbles upon a box of her fetish gear, which inspires his new look. 'We kept the red-and-black theme," explains costume designer Sammy Sheldon Differ, 'not least of all because black is an emblematic color in the villain world. He has to develop from Red Mist into something much more evil, so we decided to hint at The Motherf%&*^r‏"even when he's not in his super-villain costume. This gave him an emo/goth look, which leads into the fetish S&M outfit that he wears as The Motherf%&*‏^r. It's much more hard-core than his Red Mist costume."

Sheldon Differ not only upgraded Moretz's Hit Girl with stylish wigs and capes"as well as a killer designer wardrobe for when Mindy outplays the evil Brooke"the designer also helped Taylor-Johnson retrace his steps as Dave. Early into production, the costumer revealed that she had kept the same glasses, watch, belt and sneakers he had worn in Kick-Ass. Recalls Kick-Ass himself: 'Sammy pulled together this great selection of baggy clothes, which were perfect for Dave. It helped get me back inside the character."

Dressed in a red bikini with armor, leather boots with 5-inch heels and an eye patch, the killer Mother Russia is difficult to miss. The designer says: 'One of my main directions from Jeff was to be as offensive as possible without being too offensive. But we did try and pull in all the stereotypes for all of the super-villains. With Olga, she's Russian and she's big. Originally, there was a lot more to the costume. We took a lot away, ripped it back to make the most of her muscle tone. She looks amazing."

Jeff Wadlow adds that he was impressed with what his talent could do in their outfits. Discussing Olga, he says: 'You think of a bodybuilder, and you think she must be in tremendous shape. But we put her in these high-heel boots that were just torture to walk around in and made her wear them for 12 hours a day while doing massive fight sequences. She never once complained. I was so impressed by her, by her strength and her passion for being there and being a part of the movie."

Becoming Super: Training and Stunt Work

By the end of the sequel, Kick-Ass has to become the action hero we knew he was from day one. For this chapter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson once again showed great dedication in getting into serious shape. Indeed, he worked out religiously and maintained an appropriately strict diet throughout production.

Jeff Wadlow appreciated how Aaron Taylor-Johnson looked at the production as a whole and did not simply focus on his own appearance. Sums the director: 'Aaron Taylor-Johnson was figuring out when we were going to shoot those scenes so that he would look how he needed to, and it would be a contrast to the way he looked in the beginning of the film. It was so impressive because, again, he was always thinking about the story; he wasn't thinking about how he looked on screen. He was thinking, -How can I serve this story and help the audience understand this journey?'"

Hit Girl is fortunately at the center of most of Kick-Ass 2's action scenes, which were again skillfully choreographed by stunt coordinator James O'Dee. Pack explains the team's take on epic battles in the sequel: 'The fight sequences are even more grounded in reality than the fights were in the first one. To an extent, and particularly with Hit Girl"given that Chloë Grace Moretz was only 11"the fight scenes were played in a slightly fantastical way to get away with the fact that an 11-year-old was killing people. It had to have a heightened sense of reality, as emotionally, it's a patently absurd notion since she was a tiny child. Whereas in this one, Chloë Grace Mortez's older and physically bigger, so we could make the action more real."

In one of the film's pivotal scenes, Dave is kidnapped by The Motherf%&*‏^r's henchmen at the funeral of Dave's father's, Mr. Lizewski (GARRETT M. BROWN). To protect his son, the elder Lizewski claimed to be Kick-Ass, which costs him his life when he is murdered in jail on the orders of The Motherf%&*^r‏. Mindy leaps back into action as Hit Girl to rescue her friend from a certain death.

Together with Kick-Ass, Hit Girl leads an army of superheroes with vicious homemade weapons to meet The Motherf%&*‏^r and his evil crew in an epic battle"with more than 100 performers in costume"in the evil lair. The showdown culminates in the Hit Girl-versus-Mother Russia battle.

Chloe Grace Moretz shares that these were some of her hardest scenes during production, and not for reasons that you'd expect. She explains: 'There's not a bad bone in Olga's body. She didn't even know how to punch someone. Here's this strong Russian woman who is a complete sweetheart. We would go from laughing and hanging out to beating up each other and trying to kill each other."

Jeff Wadlow admits that these days of intricate stunts and wirework were some of his favorite on set: 'It was so fun to shoot because you can throw them around and do anything you want. Because of the difference in their physicality and the colors they wear, you know who's who and where you are in the action. Jimmy designed the fights so that we're playing to Mother Russia's strengths, showing you that whatever move Mindy has, whatever weapon she uses, Mother Russia has an answer to it."

It was a fight to the finish. 'When Mindy's throwing knives at Mother Russia, they hit her gauntlet and she just wipes them off," Jeff Wadlow concludes. 'When Mindy tries to run up the wall, Mother Russia grabs her and slams her. We all worked together to tell this story of two titans coming together and create this situation where we think that Hit Girl is an unstoppable little force of nature. But guess what? She just ran into something that is going to stop her, and that's Mother Russia."