Gadgetory

well hey this is Brian with the verge we're here at the 2013 San Diego comic-con talking to Jeff Wadlow writing director of kick-ass - Jeff thanks for sitting down with us my pleasure Brian thanks for taking the time absolutely so I'm real quick panel yesterday whenever well oh yeah I could not have gone better I mean kick-ass is designed for comic-con I mean you couldn't I don't think you could think of a film better suited for comic-con than kick-ass I mean I know there are superhero movies that are much bigger but we're basically saying you know this movie is for you guys this is a love letter to fans of superhero movies where we're going to say we know the rules you know the rules now it's breakup right now I'm going to talk about just in general you've been blowing up lately you know the news about you know go-fast came up recently or something direct that for Sony you're writing x-force you know maybe directing is there you're gonna be at the flux panel later is there anything I'm not gonna be the Fox panel I'm all about kick-ass - but I am writing x-force - to make it you know that's that's what I do that's what I did with kick-ass - I think the the issue there more is you know I mean it's a there's a big difference between development and actually making the movie we all know that Fox's written scripts for magneto and an x-men first class with you know Cyclops and Jean Grey so I mean the movie is far from you know green light so right now I'm just sort of telling my story and hopefully they'll be as excited about a design a lot of films that are coming out they're you know not coming up within the system they're basically you know getting picked up and distributed afterwards but they're getting independent financing do you find that provides you a greater creative freedom and yes even if it's a big property like this I don't know I think it's just an example of like by hooker by Kirk right you know whatever it takes to get the movie made that's what you got to do and so I think that's why you're seeing more unconventional ways to get films made is because people are just pushing and always looking for what you know what it's going to take to get their movie and he expected experience with like X horse is gonna be subtly different since that is being developed you know in house maybe but I mean so far you know they've kind of let me do what I wanted it you you know I told them this is the story I want to tell and they got excited about it and they said now what's it like working I mean pre-existing property obviously kick ass there's already film people love when you're coming into that as a director you've written your you know what the story you want to tell as wreck there's certain things you want to bring stylistically visually or that make it like you know like your film yes and now I mean you have to be pretty sort of egotistical I think to think I gotta come in and make it mine and put my mark on it and it really wasn't my approach my approach was a fan I love the first film I loved it I don't want to reboot it I don't want to reimagine it I don't want to read anything you know it's just like I just want to spend time with these characters and I want to see what happens next and that's how I approached it and the things changed for a variety of reasons one we're telling a new story and so things are going to change about the way you shoot it and the way you tell that story things also change because I'm just a different person then you know then Matthew and and I love him and respect him but you know making a movie is a very personal endeavor and so even if I wanted to make it just the way Matthew would have made it I'm still not Matthew so it's always going to be different because I'm feeling it and experiencing it and and having different ideas you know it's a creative process so I feel ownership of the movie in that sense because I was allowed to do that you know Matt Merced you got to make your movie go make it so I think it is different and I do feel like you know my fingerprints are all over it for that reason but it wasn't because I came in and and date to make it a Jeff Wadlow film right now the one thing you know kick-ass it there's this fine line that a modulus really carefully in terms of you know pushing you know like violence and comedy and like it works great because it pulls both off simultaneously you know how did you modulate that just as a filmmaker it is a tonal tight rope act but you know I had a great model to follow which was the first film and for me it's just about being honest and pushing it right and so I think as long as you aren't being insincere about the the humor or the consequences of the violence that's what's interesting just a side note about the violence people talk about that a lot and our film like yes it's violent but when violent things happen like you see that bad things happen like people get hurt yeah there's consequences this isn't like some bloodless assault rifle sequence where you know you're you people are emptying magazines and actually they never empty the magazine they never run out of bullets from the situation and nobody's getting hurt and you know gadgets falling over I mean to me that that sends the wrong message because it's saying like oh no there's no real consequences you know for an intense situation like this and we're we're actually pretty seasoned jobless it's like oh yeah like if you try to go out and fight crime like you're gonna get hurt yeah well it's not the underlying you know theme of the entire first movie you know it's like how that's that you know trying to do that doesn't really work at first that's the whole point of it so it's an odd comparison now to put that together so talking about you know Matthew you brought the script Matthew Picht you you know how heavily was he involved in the process either day-to-day or is it just kind of like go I trust you do your thing it was it was both in that Matthew as a filmmaker understands what a filmmaker needs from his producer and and he did it perfectly I could not have asked for a better partner in that you know he never came to set he said make make a movie but at the same time I probably talked him on the phone every day for you know half an hour or an hour all through prep and production and you know we just got his advice because he is a filmmaker and he understands the tight wire the high wire act that we were trying to pull off with the tone could be getting himself so it was sort of a perfect mix of being there but also letting me do my thing awesome cool Jeff thank you so much respond the time with us looking se for them anyway there at the comic you as well