The best way to determine the greatness of a director is probably to count the dollars he’s earned at the box office and the trophies he keeps on his shelves. But with Matthew Vaughn, it’s simply the fact that every film he has directed in his young career has left fans demanding sequels. For example, when news broke that his 2004 cult classic Layer Cake, a truly great gangster film starring Daniel Craig, was getting a sequel that would replace the current James Bond star with Jason Statham, people were really excited. Of course, when it was revealed that Vaughn would have nothing to do with Viva la Madness, that excitement vanished, much like when people left the theater after Kick-Ass 2.
Vaughn returns to theaters tomorrow with another Mark Millar adaptation in Kingsman: The Secret Service, a comic book that tells the story of a troubled teen taken under his uncle’s wing and trained to be Britain’s next great gentleman spy. But people are still far more concerned with the future of the original Vaughn/Millar franchise, Kick-Ass, especially after that aforementioned disappointment. The good news is that Vaughn knows people were upset with Kick-Ass 2, and the better news is that he has a plan to make it all better.
Do you know what’s going to be next if I do it… we’ve finished plotting it. What we have to do is, we’ve got to do the FIRST CLASS to the KICK-ASS world. We lost a few fans on Kick-Ass 2. It wasn’t as loved as one would’ve hoped. So we have this idea for a Hit Girl prequel. It’s a really strong, really simple prequel where I think we can regain the love and the passion. If that happens, I’m pretty sure I can persuade Aaron and Chloe to come back and finish the story of Kick-Ass with Kick-Ass 3.
… I wouldn’t direct. We spoke about it to Gareth Evans a couple of years ago. I’d get someone like that, a really bold, clever director. Most of it is set in the far east. (Via JoBlo)
So, what about a Kingsman sequel? Some of us are rather fond of that book, too. The reviews are mostly positive, a surprise for a February film and a comic book that doesn’t star Iron Man, so barring a complete box office dud, Vaughn said that he’d “love” to do a sequel, and he has some “really bold ideas” and “crazy stuff” in store for Eggsy.
