Matthew Vaughn has been responsible for several very well-known and respected projects throughout his lengthy career as a director. From working on the beloved Kingsmen film series to X-Men: First Class and most recently, his work in the highly anticipated film, Argylle, he has established himself as an extremely talented filmmaker. This level of success does not come easy, and as he revealed during an interview, he has one of the biggest directors of all time to thank for it.
Vaughn revealed that his iconic film, Kickass, which starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was not doing all too well during its initial release. This was until he was promoting the film at a convention and was put after the cast of James Cameron’s Avatar.
Matthew Vaughn Was Put After Avatar At A Movie Convention
Matthew Vaughn recently did an interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, where the pair discussed everything surrounding his upcoming film, Argylle, as well as his past iconic projects. Here, the director was asked about his opinions on conventions like Comic Con, having attended his fair share of projects like Kingsmen. He revealed that he has a very special place for them in his heart, crediting the success of one of his breakout works to one such event.
He elaborated on this, stating that during the initial release of his film, Kickass, it was finding it difficult to find a footing among its audience. Another movie that was in the early stages of its release of James Cameron’s Avatar, a movie that went on to become the most successful film of all time. At a movie convention, Vaughn and the cast of his film were put after the Cameron film in the order of who would be going on stage.
“I have a huge, huge affection. Primarily, they made Kickoff get distribution. So, when we made Kickoff, nobody wanted it and it was a terrifying moment.” Vaughn went on, “We were going on stage after Cameron with Avatar. Avatar didn’t sore than as much as we were imagining and I think sometimes being the underdog helps.”
He added that though they were not expecting a big crowd, the critically acclaimed director’s film forced the huge audiences to listen to what they had to say about their movie.
Matthew Vaughn Thinks That Avatar Helped With Kickass’s Success
Matthew Vaughn stated that this helped Kickass’s success to a high degree. Though the movie had a cast full of actors who went on to become very well recognized, like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Evan Peters, when it was first released, these were all fairly unrecognized faces. The film was relatively small-scale for a superhero film, having a budget of $28 million, and the director added that the executives being it were finding it difficult to make ends meet after its release.
“The audience was great. I mean, that room.” He went on, “It was fantastic and they’re cheering made executives here maybe a little bit of money. And of course, they didn’t have it. Well, I’ll be polite about them for a second, but they needed a nudge which happened.”
Vaughn stated the the crowd at this convention was so interested in the film and what the cast had to say. Not only did this provide the film executives with some more money to promote it, but they also got more recognition for a project they had worked very hard on.
The film helped launch the careers of all that were involved in it. This was perhaps why the director was so thankful for the entire situation.
