In the superhero flick, Kick-Ass, there are the good, the bad and the brutal. As the 11-year-old vigilante, Hit-Girl, Chloe Grace Moretz gets to play all three in one character opposite Nicolas Cage's Big Daddy. You'd never expect that range from the mild-mannered 13-year-old relaxing at a downtown Toronto hotel. But she is, indeed, capable of defining the cute but incredibly foul-mouthed girl-gone-wild in Kick-Ass, which opens Friday.
Smiling sheepishly, Moretz admitted during the interview that she's been getting that reaction a lot lately, not to mention protests from a few family groups upset over her provocative performance in Matthew Vaughn's film based on the Mark Millar comic.
Certainly, the age-inappropriate fuss is nothing new for a young actress. Dakota Fanning went through the same controversy when naysayers protested her graphic portrayal of a child rape victim in 2007's Hounddog. More than 30 years ago, Jodie Foster took flak for playing an adolescent prostitute in Taxi Driver. Some things never change.
"I am an actress and I was playing somebody who was raised to do what she does," said Moretz, who shot the movie in Hamilton, Ont., Toronto, New York and London.
She'd rather discuss acting opposite movie star Cage, and facing the challenge of playing the ultimate adolescent street fighter. She has especially fond memories of Cage, describing him as gracious and kind.
"He was a good example for me. On set, he was really nice to everybody all of the time."
Preparing for her active Hit-Girl part was something else again: There were gruelling martial arts and gymnastic sessions. "I did that for six months," she said. And while filming in Toronto for a month, she trained at the Toronto School of Circus Arts to learn movement.
The peculiar thing is that Moretz's Hit-Girl isn't the headliner in the film. Kick-Ass is the name of a wannabe superhero who is a high-school super-dud by the name of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson). When he costumes up in a bid to do the right thing, he's nearly murdered, but recovers, then crosses paths with real crime fighters Hit-Girl (Moretz) and Big Daddy (Cage).
Their single-minded mission is to bring down New York's crime boss, Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), by eliminating his drug-syndicate henchmen.
Since Big Daddy's been training Hit-Girl for nearly a decade in the lethal craft of killing, we discover quickly that the child's a barbarous assassin willing and able to eliminate all in her way, with extreme and bloody efficiency.
With Kick-Ass as their quasi-mascot, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy close in on D'Amico, with only D'Amico's son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), posing as another wannabe superhero, in their way.
While the fight sequences are jarringly violent, Kick-Ass, the movie, does have a sense of humour about itself, with enough cloaked, or not-so-cloaked, comic book, TV and movie references to keep even the most obsessed pop-culture fanatics amused.
Still, Moretz's sprightly portrayal of the ruthless killer is the main talking point for fans. "I don't like that so much," Moretz admitted.
Born in Atlanta, Ga., Moretz credits her boldness to the fact she grew up with four older brothers, and her drive to be an actress. At six, she moved to L.A. with her family and booked a few TV guest spots on The Guardian and Heart of the Beholder.
But she really made a name for herself by portraying the daughter in the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror with Ryan Reynolds. She also showed up in the films Big Momma's House 2 and (500) Days of Summer, and, most notably, on the popular TV shows My Name Is Earl, Desperate Housewives and as a recurring character on Dirty Sexy Money.
This year, the actress had a co-starring part in the just-released Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and will be featured in the upcoming live-action movie, Jack and the Beanstalk.
So far, the pre-release buzz surrounding her Hit-Girl performance has opened up more opportunities. Moretz has signed to co-star in the thriller, The Fields, and is set to do an Elizabeth Banks segment of a comedy feature. She says she's also looking forward to filming Martin Scorsese's historical drama, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
And wait until those concerned parents' organizations get a load of Moretz's role as the down-and-dirty kid vampire Abby in Let Me In, a remake of the Swedish terror trip, Let The Right One In, based on the novel.
"Our movie will be our version of the book," said Moretz of the film set to open in the fall.
Meanwhile, the actress is looking forward to her busy career, which she hopes will include her family. Her 23-year-old brother, Trevor, is her acting coach, and Moretz said that, some day, she wants her siblings to help put together a film project.
Her older brothers, she confessed, continue to be her biggest supporters and her main protectors."Yeah," Moretz said, "I feel sorry for the boys when I start dating,"
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