Kick-Ass To Feature Animation

[dnwilliams]

Comic book royalty John Romita Jr revealed in a recent interview that the upcoming feature film adaptation of his book Kick-Ass will feature animation based on his artwork.

The film is based on a mini-series written by Mark Millar and drawn by Romita Jr, about a kid who decides to become a superhero, just because. Grisly violence ensues. Romita visited the Pinewood Studios set in winter to get a feel for the live-action version of his project:

"[The film-makers] know what they're doing, but I'm sticking to [original author] Mark [Millar]'s scripts. Mark's scripts have a little bit of a different feel from the director and the screenwriters. We don't want to be so far disparate from the film, and we had a little bit of storytelling we wanted to at least parallel the film even though it was Mark's idea from the get go to give it some similarities while not looking like we're hocking each other. As long as it looks like the same subject matter, the endings will have differences.

"[Director] Matthew Vaughn is a fan of the comic, and that's where the flashback animation sequence comes from. He wanted an homage to the comic. He was a fan of my pacing and storytelling and used as much as he could along those lines. As long as you get along with people professionally and don't get too abrasive, generally you're going to find the happy medium."

Son of the second artist to work on Spider-Man with creator Stan Lee, Romita Jr is one of the most prolific artists working in comics today, with long runs on Amazing Spider-Man and numerous other Marvel titles. His distinctive style is instantly recognisable to legions of comic book readers, who will no doubt get a buzz seeing it animated.


Check out Romita Jr's kick-ass Kick-Ass artwork below:



And here's an old round table with the man himself, his father, and Stan Lee. How awesome is his hair on a scale of 1 to 10? Michael Bay.



Source: CBR via First Showing

[Sheridan Passell]

Great, nothing takes you out of a movie quicker than cutting to animation.

[dnwilliams]

you didn't like it in kill bill?

[Sheridan Passell]

Kill Bill was a very stylish film, but I never felt involved in it.

[dnwilliams]

i know what you mean. an animated prologue would be cool though...

[dnwilliams]

argh, new stills always drop after i post the news!!!



i was totally an extra for this btw, hope it's not a cut scene and i can see me  <------

[Sheridan Passell]

Ah, it's not much of a new picture. Seen it all before. Were you really an extra in this movie?

[dnwilliams]

o rly? good.

yeah, i was an extra for two days last winter

[Sheridan Passell]

Shit, is it worthy of a post? What did you see happening?

[dnwilliams]

met mark millar, the comic book writer, and say romita jr froma distance...

was background in three to four scenes, two, i think, quite prominently. one was an exterior with chris mintz-plasse getting out of a limo and heading into a recreation of a comic book store chain they have in the US called Golden Apple. then i was in the store on the table behind aaron johnson (main dude), clark duke and evan peters. the comic book store set was pretty cool, it was half comic book store, half cafe. another scene outside where the main gang (same three guys) were crossing the street, with one shouting the line 'gay?! it's camo!'

i basically had to cross the street with a basketball, chill in a cafe eating and playing on a laptop, walk outside a window, hang out in the street etc. didn't see any fights/costumed action

[Sheridan Passell]

That's fantastic. I presume that was in London? How much does an extra get paid these days? Was it through an agency? (not that I have the time anyway, just wondering how it works)

[dnwilliams]

twas at pinewood, so buckinghamshire. got £110 for it, so pretty low pay for two days. would've been a lot more if we went a little overtime. kick-ass was open casting; but i had used an agency before, they got me doomsday and consideration for clash of the titans.

[Sheridan Passell]

How do you find out about open casting for extra work, and how does that work?

[dnwilliams]

it was advertised on a flier, didn't seek it out, so i don't know how you'd find out ordinarily. i think there are listings in trade papers. i just had to show up, fill out a form, get my photo taken and be measured for costume (even though i ended up using my own clothes).

[Sheridan Passell]

Did you have to sign a confidentiality agreement? And of what you saw there do you think any secrets were given away?

[dnwilliams]

Vaughn: Basically, there's a scene where it's the backstory of how Mindy and Damon become Big Daddy and Hit Girl. I was just looking at it, and I was like, "Fuck, I'm going to have to get someone who looks like a young Cage, and then a two-year-old and a four-year-old Mindy. And then I'm going to have to shoot in fifteen or sixteen different locations. This is going to cost a fortune!" And then we came up with this premise where Big Daddy is brainwashing Hit Girl into thinking all of this is fine [by drawing] all of the gangsters as comic books. That's her life: reading comic books. And Big Daddy is also a comic book artist; he makes his money drawing comic books. So Mark and I had this idea where... he draws the Big Daddy and Hit Girl comic, which he gives to her to read. And what happens is another character finds this comic and reads it. It's not going to be animated like a cartoon or a manga. John has drawn the comic which the character would've drawn, and we're just going to give it a 3-D look with a little movement. It should look cool. I haven't seen it yet. We're working on it at the moment. But we're not trying to do a KILL BILL moment. It should have a very different feel to it. I hope. (Laughs)

i must've signed a minor non-disclosure along the way, but i didn't retain a copy. i still have contact details for a bunch of the people involved, and i didn't see anything that i'd consider spoilerific, so if you wanted me to pursue permission to write something i probably could. the two scenes with the principals, literally all i saw was them interacting; no plot deets etc.

[Sheridan Passell]

Ok, next time retain a copy, and sneak into some dressing rooms - you're a reporter now.

[dalmatianjaws]

Ok, next time retain a copy, and sneak into some dressing rooms - you're a reporter now.

That is my favorite kind of reporting. Naked actress reporting.

[dnwilliams]

Ok, next time retain a copy, and sneak into some dressing rooms - you're a reporter now.

That is my favorite kind of reporting. Naked actress reporting.

lol, clark kent never had to do this!

[dalmatianjaws]

That's cause he has x-ray vision.