Recently announced Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow made an appearance at the Kapow! comic book convention over the weekend, where he spoke about his approach to adapting the movies’ source material while staying true to the universe of Matthew Vaughn’s first film.

Last month it was announced that a Kick-Ass sequel was officially being made, after two years of doubt sparked by the success of Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class and Fox’s decision to produce a follow-up. While Vaughn (who collaborated with Mark Millar to complete the film and comic at the same time) will not return as director, he is staying on as producer and “hand-picked” Never Back down‘s Jeff Wadlow to write and direct the sequel.

While appearing at Kapow! on a panel event with Millar, the director spoke about his plans to emphasize Hit-Girls role in the story.

“I had breakfast with Chloe [Moretz] two weeks ago and she’s read the script and she’s very excited about what we’re doing with Hit-Girl. If you’ve read the comic, you know, she gives up being Hit-Girl, which was a brilliant idea I thought on Mark’s part. It’s something I explore something quiet deeply in the movie because what happens in the comic is she sort of steps away from the story in many ways and she’s sort of sidelined while Dave is working with Justice Forever and Chris is becoming the Mother[frick]er. But I was quite interested in what happens to her when she’s not being Hit-Girl. Her story is a major, major part of the film and she’s excited about the ideas and we’re in talks.”

It’s great to see that Moretz will be returning – her breakout performance as the swearing, gun-slinging child led to a packed schedule that saw the young actress work with Hollywood legends Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton.

Wadlow also spoke about some of the difficulties he encountered while writing the screenplay, namely striking the right balance between the action-packed content of the comics and the emotional grounding of the original film adaptation.

“It’s been an interesting process because for those of you who know the property really well, the [first] movie takes some significant liberties with the first comic book. So then Mark did the sequel to the comic book which is Kick-Ass 2. So I had sort of this movie and the comic book and I had to find the intersection. An adaptation was quite a challenge, but one that I really enjoyed and loved. I think the most important thing that’s gonna change from the Kick-Ass 2 comic to Kick-Ass 2 the movie was just really finding an emotional story to tell. Because what I certainly loved about the first film, and what I think elevated it above most comic book adaptations, is the heart and the emotion in the film. It was sort of my challenge as the film maker and storyteller to find something as emotional in the second film and I think we have some stuff that people are gonna really respond to.”

Are you excited to see more ass-kicking in the sequel?

Source: SFX