Heres how it went…
To what extent would you say this is a political story?
Funny you should say that.
People who watch this film have their own interpretations.
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And what about yourself?
What were your intentions for it?
I grew up on a council estate up there.
And I bemoan the fact that theres no leading men anymore who have that kind of background.
Its also interesting that weve seen the complete destruction of social mobility in the last ten years.
It was fluid but now its all freezing up again.
Were going back to the debutantes.
So I wanted a character who was a working class hero.
It dawned on me that the lead character being called Eggsy might not be an accident.
Its my old school friends name.
I said Who doesnt like eggs?
Ive never tasted one.
Are you kidding me?
I dedicated the book to him.
One of the things you did quite often was auctioning off the names of your characters for charity.
Naming those characters was taken away from you, but a name can be important, cant it?
It can, yeah.
Some of these names, do they carry any weight for you?
Funnily enough, it can be a little awkward.
His name was almost Lin Leng.
Lin Leng gave me a fright.
Its a little bit ethnic for my lead character.
Yes, that would be best avoided.
But when you do choose name, how much stock do you put in them?
Sometimes a name takes on an iconic nature in a way that was never intended.
Then its a sincere name.
If you come up with a random name Taylor Wheatcroft, say then it might not sound quite right.
But if Mum and Dad have spent nine months thinking about something it saves you the bother.
I think names are important.
Comic book characters can have very good names.
Two quite well-known names were pitching this movie around Hollywood.
Basically the same premise?
Different title, same premise.
Very similar, as well.
Then, on top of that, celebrity kidnappings.
Those versions are all dead now, effectively killed by yours.
Yeah, theyre gone, thank god.
You hear these Hollywood stories but thats the first time this one has happened to me.
Thats the closest Ive ever come to being ripped off like that.
People say Why do you want your comics to become movies?
and I think its almost the best reason in the world to get it out before somebody else does.
Harlan Ellison has the great line Write faster than they can steal and thats absolutely true.
And yet they caught him.
They caught up with Harlan.
Look atThe Terminator,for example.
Oh god, yeah.
For example, you have to be Matthews love of plot and Janes love of character.
Everything successful Ive ever written has been character led.
The plot follows what the character will do in the situation you give them.
Thats why comic books work well as films because theyre entirely about character.
It saysSupermanup there, its the title.
Its saysBatman, its not about a high concept plot.
Whats your process for plotting?
Do you trace the course of action for the central character as the spine of your plot?
Ive got a really odd method that looks like something a serial killer would do.
Ill give you an example, using Kick-Ass.
So I was interested in a superhero on his first night out on patrol getting stabbed.
That would probably always happen, if you had no powers.
So I was drawing out all of these little scenes, and it started organically writing itself.
I would draw a new little scene, and link it in with a piece of string.
When do you tend to get the end in mind?
Sometimes the end is first.
I would say nine times out of ten.
The ending for this came first, in fact.
You have all of these rhythms imposed upon you when youre working in comics that a film doesnt.
How intuitive are these structures and rhythms to you?
And how do you ensure youre in time with them?
I naturally flow towards the three-act structure.
Most comic guys work on an episodic structure, more like TV shows.
And likewiseWatchmen, which would have been an amazing 12-part HBO series.
I feel like my brain is hardwired to think that way, and its just a stylistic thing.
Soap opera doesnt interest me.
One of my things was being turned into a TV show and I wasnt feeling very into it.
As a writer that offends me because as a viewer Im going to be left unsatisfied.
How do you work with those?
I think it just means you have a doubly exciting act.
You dont have just one end to the first act, but two.
If youre doing a novel, you could wait until page 155.
With a comic, youre fired if by issue three nothing interesting happens.
There are two things you were involved in before that seem to be suspended to me.
One was your transition to film directing withMiracle Parkand then your involvement with Foxs superhero canon.
Whatever youre doing with them is behind closed doors.
Its just behind the scenes.
As soon as I heard about yours I had to kill mine.
He thought this was hilarious, and I was like Oh… Nobody had done hand-held superheroes to that point.
The fact that it was in Glasgow made it quite different, but it was close enough.
It was structurally identical toChronicle.
What has that done to your ambition to be a filmmaker?
Its a brilliant Get Out of Jail Free card.
Id love to try it.
The similarities between comics are very close, and I love being around a set, I love actors.
The Fox job, I signed up for four years.
It was August 2012 I started, and my contract runs until August 2016.
I stealthily work in the background, talking to execs.
Josh Trank and I spent a few days together.
What do you talk about?
The expert, as it were.
Theres nothing I can tell Singer about theX-Men, he knows more than any of us.
Mark Millar, thank you very much.
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