It can be tough discerning how old Chloe Moretz really is.
On paper, she’s 13, a native of Atlanta, the sibling of four older brothers.
In person, she’s composed and deliberate in her answers, although she remains a giggler and is prone to the word “breathtaking.”
On screen, all bets are off. The veteran of two dozen films and TV shows is quick with a butterfly knife and David Mamet-like vulgarity. She puts those skills on display in Kick-Ass, which opens Friday amid some concern over how far the movie pushed its young stars.
When it comes to controversy, Moretz is all teen. “Comic book movies had gotten too tame,” says Moretz, who was 11 when she shot Kick-Ass. “My mom read the script and thought it was great. And I wanted to do action.”
This action, though, includes having Nicolas Cage’s character blast his daughter in the chest to teach baby how to take a bullet (she’s wearing a vest). She prefers Glocks to Barbies and, in what would become the most controversial scene of the film, drops the king of vulgarities — a profane reference to female anatomy — on a group of ill-fated thugs.
“You know, her character wipes out just about everyone on screen, and that one word is where all the controversy is,” says director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake).
Even Vaughn, himself the parent of a 7-year-old boy, says he was a little taken aback when the scene began. “It’s a movie, of course, but I wouldn’t want my kid talking that way.”
The scene, which was one of the first of shooting, called for Moretz, playing Hit-Girl, to square off against a phalanx of criminals and say, “OK, you (epithet), let’s see what you got.”
“I figured, we’ll shoot it, and it’ll never get in,” Vaughn says. “But she jumped right into it, delivered it without any cobwebs. Just about every actor there froze, looked at me and said ‘What the (another epithet)?’ I knew we had something.”
What he had was a minor controversy as word swept through the business that an 11-year-old was swearing up a storm — and filmmakers planned to keep it.
“It was funny,” Vaughn says. “We’re killing all these people, and that’s the controversy.”
Still, the response could be anger or antipathy, at least at the box office, says Chad Hartigan of Exhibitor Relations. “These are still comic book movies, and kids are going to want to go. They’re marketing all these bright colors and happy music for an R-rated movie.”
Joe Drake, Lionsgate’s co-chief operating officer and president of the motion picture group, denies the studio is marketing to kids. “The world Matthew has created is brutal and real-world,” he says. “We set that up in the opening scene. That’s why people are responding so well to it.”
The hubbub is a mystery to Moretz, whose two biggest shows to date are a fitting dichotomy: Dirty Sexy Money and My Friends, Tigger & Pooh.
“I don’t see what the big deal of it was,” says Moretz, who swears she had never said the word before reading the script and has never used it privately.
“Just because I talk a way in a movie doesn’t mean I’d ever do it in real life. My friends don’t talk that way.”
It was that sweet-yet-seasoned demeanor that drew filmmakers to Moretz, who also appeared in Bolt, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and (500) Days of Summer.
Still, executives early on “wanted to turn Chloe 25,” says Mark Millar, author of the Kick-Ass comic book. “The point of this character is that she’s young. We decided to keep the layers out of it and do it ourselves.”
Moretz is grateful for the decision. She says the film helped not only with her knife work but also in dealing with high-energy adults on sets. It will come in handy: She’s expected to appear in Martin Scorsese’s family mystery The Invention of Hugo Cabret, due next year.
“People shouldn’t get so upset,” she says. “It’s all pretend. I still like slumber parties and popcorn fights.”
(via USA Today)
It’s not easy to steal a scene from a Hollywood heavy weight like Nicholas Cage, but Chloe Moretz does it with the ease of a seasoned professional. This week’s Girl Crush isn’t old enough to be in high school but that hasn’t stopped us from choosing 13-year-old Chloe because with her maturity and talent, you really have no idea how old she really is!
With her role as Mindy Macready (superhero name: Hit-Girl), in “Kick-Ass” Chloe really does kick butt! You can’t help but stare in aw as she demonstrates her enormous acting capabilities and dynamite personality! Her no-nonsense character holds her own against the big boys, a role Chloe molds perfectly into.
Feel like you’ve seen her before? That’s because you have! Her first notable role was in “Amityville Horror” but more recently she made her debut in “500 Days of Summer.” Chloe played Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s precocious little sister Rachel Hansen and was unforgettable! The blunt audacity of advice she gave her older brother left us wanting more of her wise-beyond-her-years persona. After “Kick-Ass,” Chloe will be taking on vampire territory in “Let Me In” and will star in the Martin Scorsese-directed 3-D flick, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”
She even tackles the red carpet in an amazing way — looking classic, simple and age appropriate. The best thing she rocks on the red carpet is her confidence! We just can’t get over this little-lady on and off the screen. For more Chloe, click on our video above and check her out in “Kick-Ass” this Friday!
Let us know who you have a Girl Crush on in the comments section below, or send us a tweet and tell us who else you think we should feature @hollywoodcrush!
(via MTV)
Chloe Moretz may know how to jump between rooftops, slice criminals with swords, and kick some serious mafia butt as Hit-Girl in Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass,” but the 13-year-old actress said she’s still just a teenage age girl when it comes to real-life combat.
In an interview with MTV News, Moretz said that if anyone confronts her she won’t challenge them to a brutal fight like her “Kick-Ass” alter ego.
“I’m still a scaredy-cat,” Moretz said. “Literally, anyone stands up to me I will freakout and call 911.”
But before the interview, Moretz exchanged playful blows with co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays Red Mist in the film.
“I know when she’s going to attack me, and I’m aware of that,” Mintz-Plasse said of the only real combat skill he learned during filming.
Explaining away her playful wrestling with Mintz-Plasse, she said she hits him because he’s like a brother — and when she beats up her brothers, they’re not afraid to hit back.
“I will not hit you,” Mintz-Plasse said. “I will not hit a child. I mean a teenager, I’m sorry.”
“He’s scary,” Moretz joked.
(via MTV)
Kick-Ass had its premiere in L.A. tonight, with Chloe and her co-stars in attendance. Check out pics in the gallery.
Don’t forget Chloe will be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tomorrow (Wednesday) night to promote Kick-Ass, which opens nationwide Friday.
Chloe and her Kick-Ass co-stars Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse attended a meet and greet fan event for the film at Hot Topic yesterday in Hollywood, CA. Pics are in the gallery.
