Aaron Johnson

British actor Aaron Johnson has won the role of dweeb/superhero Dave Lizewski in Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass comic book series.  Johnson got the role (in spite of Vaughn’s instructions that he didn’t want any English actors auditioning) by adopting a pitch-perfect American accent that, according to The Daily Mail, totally fooled the veteran director. The 18-year-old Johnson is fresh off an appearance as “Robbie the Hottie” in Gurinder Chadha’s new movie Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging.

The actual filming of Kick-Ass starts later this week in London.  The cast includes Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (“McLovin” from Superbad—see “Vaughn to Kick Ass Independently”) along with Nicholas Cage, who will play Big Daddy, Lyndsy Fonseca, who will portray Dave’s crush Katie Deuxma, and Mark Strong.