"Kick-Ass 2" debuts in theaters this week. In anticipation of the film's release, Latinos Post spoke to actor John Leguizamo about his involvement in the franchise and other projects.
The noted Hispanic actor joins the franchise for the first time as Javier, the bodyguard and surrogate father of the film's super villain Chris D'Amico (also known as The Motherf***er). Leguizamo revealed that he was a huge fan of the franchise's first installment, which debuted in 2010.
"It's a beautiful, innocent coming of age story but they put the comic book spin on it," he said about why he enjoyed the original "Kick-Ass." "I also liked that the violence is really real. There are consequences. It's not like this action where people don't feel things. I loved that the violence was real violence...So when they asked me to do number two, I was down for the count."
He noted that he originally thought he would get a chance to be one of the Motherf***er's supervillains but was surprised to learn that he would only get to play the bodyguard.
"I was like, 'So who am I going to be man? What kind of costume? I am going to be Big-Ass or Pain-in-the Ass?' I said, 'I'll do anything,'" Leguizamo revealed about his first conversation with director Jeff Wadlow. "But [Wadlow] said, 'You know, you're going to be the guardian, the body guard and surrogate father to Red Mist.'"
Despite his initial disappointment, Leguizamo did note that he was thrilled that Wadlow added in a character that did not appear in the original comic book by Mark Millar.
"He wrote just it for me. It's not in the comic book," he proudly noted.
Interestingly enough, the studio executives backing the film were so excited by Leguizamo's involvement and character that they expected him back for the third film and were not completely thrilled by his [SPOILER ALERT] demise in the sequel.
"It's funny because Universal didn't want me to extinguish because they wanted me to come back in the sequel," he said. "But [my death] adds poignancy."
All of Javier's scenes feature Christopher Mintz-Plasse's Motherf***er and Leguizamo noted that he had a terrific time working with the 24-year old actor.
"What a funny funny dude. We had so much fun together," Leguizamo enthused. "He's always funny. He's just a fun dude. He's not that spoiled angry dude in the movie. He's a really hip chill kind of guy."
He noted that the two always spent time together on set, but also revealed that they made time to hang out off of set to develop the chemistry for their characters.
"When you play someone as close as Javier and Motherf***er you got to spend time together off camera too. You can't just fake that chemistry," Leguizamo asserted. "We had every meal together. We hung out together. We went to clubs a little bit. We went to a film festival together. We did a lot of stuff together. It was easy because I really liked the guy."
The franchise has drawn a tremendous amount of controversy and the latest installment was recently attacked by cast member Jim Carey who withdrew his support of the film in light of the Sandy Hook Elementary School incident.
When asked whether he felt that the violence on screen translated to real-world violence, Leguizamo quickly rejected the notion.
"I don't believe that. The violence has always been on film and in literature," he said. "People are going to act [the way they want to]."
He did note that some violence in art was pointless because of its artificiality and the lack of responsibility in its portrayal.
"My favorite violence on film is the one that has real consequences because sometimes it gets too easy and desensitized and it's not fun to watch," he added. "I like 'Kick-Ass' and the violence in Michael Haneke's movies because the [violence] actually feels horrible. That's just my humble opinion."
After "Kick-Ass 2" audiences will get a chance to see Leguizamo in Ridley Scott's star-studded "The Counselor," which features Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.
Leguizamo commented on working with Ridley Scott for the first time and on sharing screen time with Fassbender.
"I never worked with [Ridley] before. I worked with [his late brother] Tony Scott but Ridley was a master craftsman," he said.
Regarding Fassbender he added, "He's a gentleman. Just so cool. Very professional."
The thespian, who was born in Bogota, Colombia according to IMDB, also took some time to comment on the status of Latin Americans in the United States film industry and noted that the opportunities were starting to come.
"Technology and social media have created this opportunity for all of us to do what we got to do and just do it without waiting for studios to see the light or Netflix to see the light," he said. "We just do our own thing and make it happen. That's what I tell everyone. The tech and social media distribution is right there and hopefully we'll have our huge Latin actors. We haven't created that situation yet. We don't have our Will Smith or Denzel Washington."
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