With “Kick-Ass 2,” Aaron Taylor-Johnson is returning to his role of Dave Lizewski, the tough home-made hero also known as Kick-Ass, after years away from it. And according to the actor, it was harder to step back into Kick-Ass’ shoes than he imagined.
A big part of playing Dave for Taylor-Johnson is raising his voice to a near squeak, something that, as he explained to MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, was a bit of a struggle.
“Other than it being an American accent, there was a specific tone to it that meets with Dave,” he said. “For the second one, it was difficult to go back to that character.”
Voice aside, making “Kick-Ass 2” meant returning to the frame of mind of somebody who feels compelled to hit the streets and fight crime. In the three years between films, Taylor-Johnson came up with a number of ideas for the character, but had a hard time realizing that a lot of that work had already been done for the original.
“In between [the two movies] there was a documentary called ‘Superheroes’ that came out, and I was watching those guys going ‘Oh, my god. They’re the real kind of people that dress up and go out,’ ” he said. “They had some really great, quirky mannerisms, and I really wanted to pick up those traits for the character, but it’s like it was too late. I can’t now. That’s not Dave. That’s someone else. Then I needed to focus in on what Dave really was. It was interesting.”
The actors new to “Kick-Ass 2” didn’t have a precedent to fulfill, and one of them, Jim Carrey, took the role very seriously. “The majority of the time [Carrey] would keep in that character,” Taylor-Johnson said. “I admire it. I do the same sometimes as well. He brings such enthusiasm and great ideas when he creates characters like it. It’s incredible. You’re seeing something come to life. It’s about being ballsy, making big decisions and being bold and to stick with it.”
“Kick-Ass 2” opens in theaters on August 16.
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