Matthew Vaughn has gained a strong fan-following directing movies like Layer Cake, Stardust, and almost directing X-Men: The Last Stand (dammit!). Now, Vaughn wants to do a big-screen adaptation of Mark Millar‘s (Wanted) violent comic Kick-Ass and is on a rampage to make it. Apparently the comic is so violent that studios just plain refuse to touch it; and with Vaughn refusing to tone it down (God bless his heart), he decided to find raise his own financing and make it an expensive indie flick.

After raising the $30 million or so for the project, casting has also begun with Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad‘s McLovin!) in negotiations to play a villain and Chloe Moretz (The Eye) already cast.

The story follows a nerdy kid who decides to become a superhero named Kick-Ass. He has no power, no super-human abilities, he’s just a kid who wants to fight some crime and ends up in a tad over his head.

A good example of why studios don’t want to touch this project is because of the character that Chloe Moretz will be playing, who has a massive potty mouth and performs surgery on people with a friggin’ katana blade — oh, right, and she just happens to be 11 years old, too. If Mintz-Plasse signs on the dotted line, he’ll be playing Red Mist, your typical angry teenage son of a mobster, who’s out to find out the identity of Kick-Ass, a role that’s yet to be cast. A lot of big names are being talked to about various other roles as well.

Keep an eye out for this one.

[Source: THR]