Kick-Ass is a 2010 black comedy superhero film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-produced the film with actor Brad Pitt, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman. The film's general release was on 25 March 2010 in the UK and on 16 April 2010 in the US.

The film tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski, who sets out to become a real-life superhero, calling himself "Kick-Ass". Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy, a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the drug lord Frank D'Amico, has trained his eleven-year-old daughter to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl.

Despite having generated some controversy for its profanity and violence performed by a child, Kick-Ass was well received by both critics and audiences. The film has gained a strong cult following since its release on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Plot[link]

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is an ordinary teenager who lives in New York. Dave, an avid comic book fan, is bitter that people do not intervene when a crime is being committed. He purchases a bodysuit and, after making modifications, embarks on a campaign to become a real-life superhero, despite having no superpowers or skills. After his first crime-fighting encounter leads to him getting stabbed and getting run over in a hit and run, leaving him with permanent nerve damage, he gains an enhanced capacity to endure pain, and surgical implants required to repair multiple skeletal fractures give him resistance to further bone-crushing injuries. His effort to conceal the truth, claiming he had had his clothes thrown off after being mugged, leads to rumors that he is gay. His longtime crush, Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca) immediately attempts to become his friend, having always wanted a "gay BFF"; Dave hesitantly goes along with it. After intervening in a gang attack, Dave's actions are recorded by a bystander and put on the internet, turning him into a celebrity. Calling himself "Kick-Ass", he sets up a MySpace account so he can be contacted for help. After responding to a request from Katie, he deals with a drug dealer, Rasul, who has been harassing her. Rasul and his thugs quickly overpower him, but he is rescued by eleven-year-old vigilante Hit-Girl (Chloë Moretz), who kills Rasul first, and then kills all of Rasul's thugs and leaves with her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). They believe he has potential, but warn him to be more careful, and give him a way to contact them if needed.

Big Daddy is Damon Macready, a former cop who has a long-standing grudge against crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) for framing him as a drug dealer, leading to the suicide of his wife. His former partner at the New York Police Department, Marcus Williams (Omari Hardwick), became guardian to his daughter, Mindy. Big Daddy, however, has reclaimed Mindy and is training her to be a skilled crime-fighter, against Marcus' wishes, hoping to take down D'Amico, sabotaging his organization. However, Big Daddy's actions inadvertently made D'Amico target Kick-Ass instead, believing that it was the latter that killed his men. D'Amico's son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), suggests a different approach. He assumes the role of the vigilante "Red Mist" in order to befriend Kick-Ass and lure him into a trap. The attempted ambush is undone by Big Daddy, who independently kills D'Amico's men and sets the building on fire. Following his escape from the warehouse fire, Dave quits being Kick-Ass. He confesses the truth to Katie, and she forgives him and becomes his girlfriend. A week later, after finding a number of messages from Red Mist urgently requesting they meet, he tells Katie that he must do one last thing as Kick-Ass. At the meeting, Red Mist creates a ruse that both he and Kick-Ass have a bounty placed on both of their heads. Believing the story, Kick-Ass calls his allies, unwittingly leading Big Daddy and Hit-Girl into an ambush. Upon arriving at one of Big Daddy's safe houses, Red Mist shoots Hit-Girl out of a window and D'Amico's men storm the place. They capture Big Daddy, taking Kick-Ass with them. D'Amico intends to have his thugs torture and execute his captives in a live Internet broadcast viewed by millions, including Katie and Marcus, who can only watch helplessly. Hit-Girl, having survived the shooting, storms the hideout, killing all of the gangsters; during the struggle, one thug sets Big Daddy on fire. He and Hit-Girl say a tearful farewell before he dies. Kick-Ass tries to convince Hit-Girl to quit her dangerous lifestyle, but she plans to finish what her father started, and Kick-Ass agrees to help.

In the assault on D'Amico's headquarters, Hit-Girl kills most of the henchmen, but runs out of bullets and is pinned in the kitchen under fire. Kick-Ass arrives in time on a jet pack fitted with miniguns that Big Daddy had previously acquired and kills the remaining thugs. Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl then take on D'Amico and his son. Kick-Ass fights Red Mist but they manage to knock each other unconscious. Hit-Girl fights D'Amico, but she is eventually overpowered. As D'Amico is about to finish off Hit-Girl, Kick-Ass comes to the rescue, armed with a rocket launcher that one of D'Amico's thugs had taken from Big Daddy's safehouse, blasting D'Amico out of the window where he explodes in mid-air. Red Mist revives in time to see Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl leaving on the jet pack, and is powerless to stop them. Mindy and Dave retire from crime fighting to live a more normal life. Mindy returns to live with Marcus, and enrolls at Dave's school. Dave explains that although he is done with crime fighting, a new "generation" of superheroes have been inspired by his endeavor, and the city is safer as a result. Red Mist is shown donning a new mask as he quotes Jack Nicholson as the Joker, "As a great man once said, 'Wait till they get a load of me'."^[6]

Cast[link]

• Aaron Johnson as David "Dave" Lizewski / Kick-Ass: Johnson said that Kick-Ass is a "sensitive guy" who lost his mother and is a "nobody" at school, so he creates his superhero identity "as this whole different persona." Johnson said that Dave is "a kid who’s got the guts to go out there and do something different."^[7] 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.^[8]
• Nicolas Cage as Damon Macready / 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.^[2] Cage was inspired by his costume to try delivering his lines in the same style Adam West used for Batman. The police officer father of an ex-girlfriend also influenced his performance; the habit of Big Daddy referring to Hit-Girl as "child" stems from the police officer.^[6]
• Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready / 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.^[2][9] Her mother read the script and permitted her to use the profanity in the movie.^[10] Jane Goldman, one of the two co-writers of the script, said, "We just really wanted Hit-Girl to be a character who, in a sense, simply happens to be an eleven-year-old girl, in the same way that Ripley in Alien could have been a guy but the part happened to be played by Sigourney Weaver." Goldman said that Mindy "is genuinely dangerous, she's genuinely mad. It's not her fault: she's been raised in this environment where she doesn't know anything different. She's unwittingly part of a folie a deux."^[11]
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D'Amico / Red Mist: Frank D'Amico's son. Millar said that "the idea was that he was going to be a more minor character in the first film. Then we saw what Christopher Mintz-Plasse was capable of! [...] So the idea of McLovin' and the fun Red Mist doing something horrible is genuinely quite disturbing when you see it happen. We couldn't have got away with that with another actor. The minute we saw his performance, we were looking at each other and realised how good he was and what we could do with him in the future...."^[12][13] Mintz-Plasse said that when he first wore the Red Mist costume, he felt that it was entertaining and that he "looked so bad-ass." The actor sent photographs of himself in costume to his friends. Three weeks into the filming, Mintz-Plasse decided that the costume was not very comfortable and "a big pain in the ass." Mintz-Plasse wore the costume for 12 hours per filming day. Mintz-Plasse had to learn how to use a stick-shift in order to drive the Ford Mustang that is used in the film. Vaughn told Mintz-Plasse that the actor would have to pay for the car if he crashed it.^[14]
• Mark Strong as Frank D'Amico: The head of a criminal organization. Strong says he is drawn to playing the antagonist. He tries to "understand the purpose of the character", and then work on building a believable individual.^[15]
• Lyndsy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma: Dave's longtime crush and eventual girlfriend.
• Michael Rispoli as Big Joe
• Kofi Natei as Rasul: A gang leader whom Dave (as Kick-Ass) challenges until Hit-Girl arrives to kill the gang members.
• Yancy Butler as Angie D'Amico: Frank's wife and Chris' mother.
• Jason Flemyng as Lobby Goon: The building doorman.
• Elizabeth McGovern as Alice Lizewski
• Garrett M. Brown as James Lizewski, Dave's father.
• Sophie Wu as Erika Cho: Katie's best friend.
• Dexter Fletcher as Cody
• Clark Duke and Evan Peters as Marty Eisenberg and Todd Haynes: Dave's two best friends.
• Xander Berkeley as Detective Victor "Vic" Gigante: A police officer working for D'Amico.
• Omari Hardwick as Sergeant Marcus Williams: Former partner of Damon Macready.
• Deborah Twiss as Mrs. Zane: Dave's English teacher.
• Stu "Large" Riley as Huge Goon: A bodyguard to the D'Amico family.
• Craig Ferguson as Himself
• John Romita, Jr. as Atomic Comics barista^[6]
• Hubert Boorder as Oscar Juarez
• Christopher McGuire as Diner Fight Guy #1
• Max White as Diner Fight Guy #2
• Dean Copkov as Diner Fight Guy #3
• Jacob Cartwright as Running Teenager
• Walle Jobara as Nervous Goon
• Kenneth Simmons as Scary Goon

Series-creator Millar, a native of Scotland, asked Scottish television children's-show host Glen Michael to make a cameo appearance^[16] although his role was cut from the film.^[17] Millar was also set to make a cameo as a Scottish alcoholic but the scene was cut from the film.^[6] WCBS-TV news reporters Maurice DuBois, Dana Tyler, and Lou Young make cameo appearances.

An image of Matthew Vaughn's wife, model Claudia Schiffer, appears prominently on a billboard poster.^[18][19]

Development[link]

The rights to a film version of the comic book were sold before the first issue was published.^[20] Developed in parallel the film writers took a different story direction, to reach many of the same conclusions. Mark Millar acknowledges the differences, explaining that a comic usually has eight acts, while a film usually has a three act structure.^[21]

Vaughn notes that, "We wrote the script and the comic at the same time so it was a very sort of collaborative, organic process. I met [Millar] at the premiere of Stardust. We got on really well. I knew who he was and what he had done but I didn't know him. He pitched me the idea. I said, 'That's great!' He then wrote a synopsis. I went, 'That's great, let's go do it now! You write the comic, I'll write the script.'"^[22] Jane Goldman one of the screenwriters, said that when she works with Vaughn she does the "construction work" and the "interior designing" while Vaughn acts as the "architect."^[23]

Millar commented that screenwriters Goldman and Vaughn had made a "chick flick", having placed more emphasis on the character emotions, and particularly in having softened the character of Katie Deauxma.^[2] Millar stated that a film audience would have difficulty accepting Dave and Katie not being together, while a comic audience would more easily accept that idea.^[21] Frank Lovece of Film Journal International says that Katie is "much less Mean Girls" in the film than in the comic, and that the romance between Dave and Katie "proves a needed counterbalance to the otherwise pervasive sense of optimism being stripped away layer by layer, down below angry cynicism and headed straight down the hole to nihilism."^[25] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said "the romance provides an appealing backdrop that the more unnerving aspects of the film play out against."^[26] Other changes included having Red Mist be known to be a secret antagonist from the start, as well as making him less outright villainous, and D'Amico's mob initially thinking Kick-Ass is the one slaughtering their men.

In the original comic-book, Big Daddy was revealed to be not an ex-cop, but a former accountant who had been motivated to fight crime by a desire to escape from his life and by his love of comic books. In the film, his purported origin and motivations are genuine: writer Mark Millar considers that the revelation about Big Daddy's background would not have worked in the film adaptation, and would have "messed up the structure of the movie".^[27]

The comic's artist John Romita, Jr. stated that Big Daddy's story in the film "works better stopping short (...) You love him better in the film".^[28]

The climax to the film differs significantly from the comics, with the use of the jetpack and rocket launcher: Millar called this "necessary" as "we're building up so much stuff that we needed some Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star moment".^[27] Comic writer Stephen Grant argued that the film "cheated" on its premise of a 'real life' superhero by having these increasingly fantastic events and that this was "why it works. That's where much of the humor comes from... when the film finally makes the notion [the fantasy] explicit we're already so deep into the magician's act that our instinct is to play along".^[29]

Vaughn initially went to Sony, which distributed Layer Cake, but he rejected calls to tone down the violence. Other studios expressed interest but wanted to make the characters older.^[4] In particular studios wanted to change Hit-Girl's character into an adult.^[14] Goldman said that while studio executives said that it would be less offensive to portray Hit-Girl as a teenager, Goldman argued that it would have been more offensive since, as a teenager, Hit-Girl would have been sexualized. Goldman said that Hit-Girl was not supposed to be sexualized.^[30]

Vaughn had a little trouble adapting to film: the film had no studio. The big studios doubted the success of an adaptation as a violent superhero, which made the film be independently financed, but this gave him the freedom to make the film the way he imagined, without having to worry about high-censorship. Vaughn believed enough in the project to raise the money himself.^[4] Christopher Mintz-Plasse, (Red Mist), said that the creators of the film were wondering whether a distributor would pick up the movie. On the set Vaughn jokingly referred to Kick-Ass as something that was going to be "the most expensive home movie I ever made."^[14]

The 2D/3D animated comic book sequence in the film took almost two years to finish. Romita created the pencils, Tom Palmer did the inks, and Dean White did the colours. Vaughn gave Romita a carte blanche on the art direction of the sequence.^[31]

Ratings[link]

In an interview with Total Film, Aaron Johnson confirmed that the film stays true to the adult nature of the comic series by featuring a large amount of profanity and graphic violence. The film received an R rating by the MPAA for "strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use—some involving children", and it received a 15 rating from the BBFC.^[1][32] Director Matthew Vaughn felt the 15 certificate was about right and expressed some surprise at the film having received a "PG rating"[sic] in France.^[2]

Filming[link]

Filming locations include Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Dip 'N' Sip Donuts on Kingston Road,^[33] Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School,^{[citation needed]} and "many Toronto landmarks that play cameos";^[33] and various locations in the UK, including Elstree Studios.^[34] The opening sequence with Nicolas Cage was filmed in a sewage plant in East London.^[27]

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.^[27] 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.^[35]

Soundtrack[link]

Controversy[link]

In January 2010, an uncensored preview clip of the film was attacked by family advocacy groups for its display of violence and use of the line "Okay you cunts, let's see what you can do now," delivered by Chloë Moretz, who was eleven years old at the time of filming. Australian Family Association spokesman John Morrissey claimed that "the language [was] offensive and the values inappropriate; without the saving grace of the bloodless victory of traditional superheroes".^[36] Several critics like the Daily Mail's Christopher Tookey accused the film of glorifying violence, claiming that Hit Girl was "made to look as seductive as possible".^[37] Tookey's view on Hit Girl was strongly criticised, with many commentators—including Andrew Collins, the film editor of Radio Times—wondering why he had found the character sexualised, causing him to claim he was a victim of cyber-bullying.^[38]

In response to the controversy, Moretz stated in an interview, "If I ever uttered one word that I said in Kick-Ass, I would be grounded for years! I'd be stuck in my room until I was 20! I would never in a million years say that. I'm an average, everyday girl."^[9] Moretz has said that while filming, she could not bring herself to say the film's title out loud in interviews, instead calling it "the film" in public and "Kick-Butt" at home.^[39] Christopher Mintz-Plasse expressed surprise that people were angry about the language, but did not seem to be offended that Hit-Girl kills many people.^[40]

Release[link]

Box office performance[link]

The film earned over $12 million internationally in advance of opening in the United States.^[3][5] On its debut weekend in the United States, it took in $19.8 million in 3,065 theaters, averaging $6,469 per theater.^[5] Kick-Ass was reported #1, ahead of How to Train Your Dragon by $200,000, which was in its third week of release. On Saturday, 17 April 2010, it fell down to #3 behind How To Train Your Dragon and Date Night. On Sunday, 2 May 2010, it fell down behind A Nightmare on Elm Street, How To Train Your Dragon, Furry Vengeance, The Back-Up Plan, Date Night, Clash of the Titans and The Losers. These numbers for Kick-Ass's debut weekend gross included non-weekend earnings, as the film was previewed during the Thursday night prior to its release.^[42]

The film's final gross in the U.S. was $48,071,303 and $48,117,600 outside of the U.S. with a worldwide gross of $96,188,903.^[5]

Critical reception[link]

The film earned mostly positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 76% based on 229 reviews, with an average score of 7.0/10.^[45] Rotten Tomatoes' selected top critics gave the film a rating of 85% based on 13 reviews.^[46] Metacritic assigned the film a score of 66%, based on a weighted average of 38 reviews from mainstream critics.^[47]

In the United Kingdom The Guardian gave the film extensive coverage by several of its critics and journalists.^[48] Peter Bradshaw gave the film 5/5 calling it an "explosion in a bad taste factory" and a "thoroughly outrageous, jaw-droppingly violent and very funny riff on the quasi-porn world of comic books; except that there is absolutely no 'quasi' about it."^[49] Philip French, writing for The Guardian's Sunday associate paper The Observer, called the film "relentlessly violent" with "the foulest mouthed child ever to appear on screen, [who makes] Louis Malle's Zazie sound like Cosette" and one "extremely knowing in its appeal to connoisseurs of comic strips and video games."^[19] David Cox, also from The Guardian, noted that the film "kicks the c-word into the mainstream...inadvertently dispatch[ing] our last big expletive."^[50]

Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph did not like the film, giving it just 1/5 and stated, "Matthew Vaughn's Kick Ass is hollow, glazed, and not quite there".^[51] Christopher Tookey of the Daily Mail warned, "Don't be fooled by the hype: This crime against cinema is twisted, cynical, and revels in the abuse of childhood".^[52] Chris Hewitt of Empire magazine gave the film 5/5 and declared it, "A ridiculously entertaining, perfectly paced, ultra-violent cinematic rush that kicks the places other movies struggle to reach. ... [T]he film's violence is clearly fantastical and cartoonish and not to be taken seriously."^[53]

International critics who enjoyed the film generally singled out its audacity, humour, and performance from Chloë Moretz. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave Kick-Ass a top rating, noting that the production "succeeds as a violent fantasy about our perilous and fretful times, where regular citizens feel compelled to take action against a social order rotting from within."^[54] USA Today critic Claudia Puig praised Moretz as "terrific...Even as she wields outlandish weaponry, she comes off as adorable."^[55] Manohla Dargis from The New York Times wrote, "Fast, periodically spit-funny and often grotesquely violent, the film at once embraces and satirizes contemporary action-film clichés with Tarantino-esque self-regard."^[56] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, but noted that "personally, I just wish that the film had ended up a bit less of an over-the-top action ride."^[57] In Film Journal International, former Marvel Comics writer Frank Lovece said the "delightfully dynamic" movie "actually improves on the comic by not metaphorically kicking in our hero's teeth ... and making him a sad-sack schmuck who was wrong about nearly everything." He found that, "Comedy-of-manners dry humor ... plays seamlessly amid scenes of stylized, off-camera mayhem."^[25]

Roger Ebert found the film highly offensive, citing it as "morally reprehensible" and giving it one-out-of-four-stars. He cited the coarse language and sensitive violence, particularly the scene in which Hit-Girl is nearly killed by D'Amico. "When kids in the age range of this movie's home video audience are shooting one another every day in America, that kind of stops being funny." Ebert's only notes of praise were for the performances of Cage, Johnson and Moretz. The movie made that week's "Your Movie Sucks" list of one-star movies.^[58] Cinema Blend accused the film of simply rehashing ideas from older superhero films, saying, "It's a subject which has already been covered endlessly by other movies, but Matthew Vaughn's film seems completely unaware of this fact, and bulls its way onward as if it's discovered something new."^[59] Karina Longworth was also not impressed with the film's intended satire and themes: "Never as shocking as it thinks it is, as funny as it should be, or as engaged in cultural critique as it could be, Kick-Ass is half-assed."^[60]

Awards and nominations[link]

Home media[link]

In an interview, Matthew Vaughn said, "There is about 18 minutes of [deleted] footage, which is really good stuff. If the film is a hit, I'll do an extended cut."^[75] The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3 August 2010 in North America.^[76] This version does not contain the aforementioned deleted content.^[77] 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.^[78][79] The discs were released in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2010.^[80]

Video games[link]

The video game based on the movie was produced by WHA Entertainment and Frozen Codebase. It was released through the App Store on 15 April 2010 for iPhone and iPod Touch.^[81] The initial Apple platform releases were reportedly unfinished beta versions and were withdrawn from circulation pending a relaunch of a finished version.^[82] The game was released on PlayStation Network on 29 April 2010.^[81] Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy are playable characters. The game features Facebook missions and integration.^[83] Both versions of the game received negative reviews.^[84]

Sequel[link]

On 8 May 2012, it was reported that a sequel will be distributed by Universal Studios, and that Matthew Vaughn has chosen Jeff Wadlow to direct the sequel with filming planned to begin in September 2012.^[85]

Differences between comic and film[link]

While being based on the comic book, Kick-Ass had several notable differences from its comic inspiration.

• 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.^[86][87][88]

• Frank D'Amico is called John Genovese in the comic book.^[89] The name is taken from the Genovese crime family.

• In the film, when Big Daddy quizzes Hit-Girl, they are in the armory while Mindy plays with her new knife. In the book, he quizzes her on a communication device whilst she is killing gangsters in a bar, with him providing over-watch with a sniper rifle.^[90]

• In the film, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy track Kick-Ass to his home by his IP address, which they then re-route to protect him from anyone else doing so. In the comic, they simply follow him home.^[90]

• Big Daddy is not actually an ex-cop in the comics, as he admits to Genovese and Dave shortly before his death. He was in fact an accountant who, much like Dave, fantasized about being a superhero. He made up a fake history of himself and lied that he was an ex-cop with a personal vendetta against John Genovese (Frank D'Amico). He also gets money for himself and Mindy by selling his rare comic books.^[91] His comic backstory is touched in the film by his use of comic terminology in the attempted execution scene.

• With Big Daddy's back story being a lie his wife, Hit-Girl's mother, is still alive and married to Marcus Williams.

• In the film, Big Daddy is killed by being burned and succumbing to his injuries. In the comic, he is shot in the nape (in a graphic depiction as the bullet exits through his left eye socket), shortly after he reveals that he was never a cop.

• When Kick-Ass is being tortured, he is not just beaten up like in the film, he has a car battery hooked up to his testes and is shocked extensively. The mobsters do not broadcast this torture session on the internet, as they do in the film.^[91]

• In the comic, Dave never becomes Katie's boyfriend; after he reveals that he was not gay, she calls him a pervert for pretending to be gay and orders her boyfriend to beat Dave. Afterwards, they send him a picture of Katie performing fellatio on her boyfriend. In the film, Katie forgives Dave for pretending that he was gay, realizing that Dave loves her, watches the video feed of his torture and pending murder in helpless horror and she becomes his girlfriend.^[92]

• At the end of the comic when Red Mist is vowing his revenge against Kick-Ass, he is in fact writing an e-mail which he sends to him, as opposed to the film when he is just talking to himself.^[92]

• In the comic, Kick-Ass does not use a jetpack outfitted with machine guns during the climactic battle. In fact, he does not kill anyone at all (although he does seriously wound Red Mist's father by shooting him with a gun). Instead, he finds and pummels Red Mist with two large pieces of wood, while Hit-Girl kills everyone else.^[92]

See also[link]

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References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kick-Ass

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kick-Ass (film)

• Official website
• Kick-Ass's channel on YouTube
• Kick-Ass at the Internet Movie Database
• Kick-Ass at AllRovi
• Kick-Ass at Box Office Mojo
• Kick-Ass at Rotten Tomatoes
• Kick-Ass at Metacritic

Brad Pitt
Pitt at the 2008 premiere of Burn After Reading
Born	William Bradley Pitt (1963-12-18) December 18, 1963 (age 48) Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor, producer
Spouse	Jennifer Aniston (m. 2000–2005) «start: (2000)–end+1: (2006)»"Marriage: Jennifer Aniston to Brad Pitt" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Brad_Pitt)
Partner	Angelina Jolie (2005–present)
Children	6

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt^[1] (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received four Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one Golden Globe. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.^[2][3]

Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the road movie Thelma & Louise (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992), Interview with the Vampire (1994), and Legends of the Fall (1994). In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys, the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. He then starred in the major international hit Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second and third Academy Award nominations for his leading performances in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011). In addition, Pitt owns a production company, Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include The Departed (2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Moneyball, which garnered a Best Picture nomination.

Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted wide publicity.^[4] He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.

Early life[link]

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is the son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, and was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma.^[5] The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969).^[6] Born into a conservative household, he was raised as Southern Baptist,^[7] although he has since described himself as oscillating between atheism and agnosticism.^[8] Pitt has stated that his family's ancestry consists of "probably... Irish-Scots-Germans who settled in the area... I know we have some Seminole, and some Cherokee Indian, in us".^[9] Pitt has described Springfield as "Mark Twain country, Jesse James country", having grown up with "a lot of hills, a lot of lakes".^[9]

Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming teams.^[10][11] He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals.^[12] Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising.^[12] As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity,^[5] he acted in several fraternity shows.^[13] As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made.^[7] Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.^[7]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London.^[1][12][14] Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero.^[12] His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera Another World.^[15] In November of the same year Pitt had a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains.^[16] He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall).^[17][1] Pitt described his character as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay."^[18] Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said, "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before."^[1] Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street.^[19]

In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997.^[12] Pitt made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together; the second a featured role in the horror film Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters.^[16] He made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.^[20]

Pitt was cast as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 1990 NBC television movie Too Young to Die?, the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder.^[21] Ken Tucker, television reviewer for Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary."^[21] The same year, Pitt co-starred in six episodes of the short-lived Fox drama Glory Days,^[1] and took a supporting role in the HBO television movie The Image.^[22] His next appearance came in the 1991 film Across the Tracks; Pitt portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner with a criminal brother, played by Ricky Schroder.^[23]

After years of supporting roles in movies and frequent television guest appearances, Pitt attracted wider recognition in his supporting role in the 1991 road film Thelma & Louise.^[22] He played J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the event that defined Pitt as a sex symbol.^[16][24] After Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred in the 1991 film Johnny Suede, a low-budget picture about an aspiring rock star,^[25] and the 1992 film Cool World,^[16] although neither furthered his career, having poor reviews and box office performance.^[26][27]

Pitt took the role of Paul Maclean in the 1992 biographical film A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford.^[28] His portrayal of the character has been described as a career-making performance,^[29] proving that Pitt could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk."^[30] He has admitted to feeling under pressure when making the film^[6] and thought it one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for."^[6] Pitt believed that he benefited from working with such a talented cast and crew. He compared working with Redford to playing tennis with a superior player, saying "when you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better."^[29][30]

In 1993, Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis for the road film Kalifornia. He played Early Grayce, a serial killer and the boyfriend of Lewis's character in a performance described by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace."^[31] Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit True Romance as a stoner named Floyd, providing much needed comic relief to the action film.^[32] He capped the year by winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.^[33]

Critical success[link]

1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name,^[34] he was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.^[34] Despite his winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony,^[35] his performance was poorly received. According to the Dallas Observer, "Brad Pitt ... is a large part of the problem [in the film]. When directors play up his cocky, hunkish, folksy side ... he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which makes him a boring Louis."^[36]

Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People in 1995 and 2000

Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall (1994),^[37] based on a novel by the same name by Jim Harrison, set in the American West during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Portraying Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) a Cornish immigrant,^[38] Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category.^[39] Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. Although the film's reception was mixed,^[40] many film critics praised Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way."^[41] The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.^[42]

In 1995, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime thriller Seven, playing a detective on the trail of a serial killer (played by Kevin Spacey).^[43] Pitt called it a great movie and declared the part would expand his acting horizons.^[44] He expressed his intent to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing [...] and play someone with flaws."^[45] His performance was critically well received, with Variety saying that it was screen acting at its best, further remarking on Pitt's ability to turn in a "determined, energetic, creditable job" as the detective.^[46] Seven earned $327 million at the international box office.^[26]

Following the success of Seven, Pitt took a supporting role as Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film 12 Monkeys. The movie received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the New York Times called Twelve Monkeys "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's "startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film."^[47] He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film^[39] and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.^[48]

The following year he had a role in the legal drama Sleepers (1996), based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name.^[49] The film received mixed reviews.^[50] In the 1997 movie The Devil's Own Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany,^[51] a role for which he was required to learn an Irish accent.^[52] Critical opinion was divided on his accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing – it's hard to understand what he's saying", wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.^[53] The Charleston Gazette opined that it had favored Pitt's accent over the movie.^[54] The Devil's Own grossed $140 million worldwide,^[26] but was a critical failure. Later that year he led as Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean-Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet.^[55] Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, including rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis.^[56] The film received mostly negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment.^[57]

Pitt had the lead role in 1998's Meet Joe Black. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human.^[58] The film received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, Pitt was unable to "to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity."^[59] Roger Ebert stated "Pitt is a fine actor, but this performance is a miscalculation."^[60]

From 1999 to 2003[link]

In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, an uncompromising and charismatic individual, in Fight Club,^[61][62] a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher.^[63] Pitt prepared for the part with lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling.^[64] To look the part, Pitt consented to the removal of pieces of his front teeth which were restored when filming ended.^[65] While promoting Fight Club, Pitt said that the film explored not taking one's aggressions out on someone else but to "have an experience, take a punch more and see how you come out on the other end."^[66] Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival.^[67] Despite divided critical opinion on the film as a whole,^[68][69] Pitt's performance was widely praised. Paul Clinton of CNN noted the risky yet successful nature of the film,^[70] while Variety remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than [...] his breakthrough role in Thelma and Louise".^[71] In spite of a worse-than-expected box office performance, Fight Club became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.^[72]

Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

Following Fight Club, Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch.^[73] Several reviewers were critical of Snatch; however, most praised Pitt.^[74] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him", going on to say that, before Snatch, Pitt had been "shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion;"^[75] while Amy Taubin of The Village Voice claimed that "Pitt gets maximum comic mileage out of a one-joke role".^[76]

The following year Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy The Mexican,^[77] a film that garnered a range of reviews^[78] but enjoyed box office success.^[26] Pitt's next role, in 2001's $143 million-grossing Cold War thriller Spy Game,^[26] was as Tom Bishop, an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division, mentored by Robert Redford's character.^[79] Mark Holcomb of Salon.com enjoyed the film, although he noted that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience".^[80] On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series Friends, playing a man with a grudge against Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, to whom Pitt was married at the time.^[81] For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[82] In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He joined an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia Roberts.^[83] Well-received by critics, Ocean's Eleven was highly successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.^[26]