Matthew Vaughn's upcoming adaptation of Mark Millar's comic book "Kick-Ass" just started shooting, and the folks over at The Bad and Ugly already got their hands on several set photos of Nicholas Cage. You can check out part of one of the pics just above, and the rest of them right here.

"Kick-Ass" centers on a boring high school student (Aaron Johnson) who attempts to become a real-life superhero named Kick-Ass but runs into several troubles because of his poor physique. Cage stars as an ex-cop who struggles to bring down a local druglord.

In related news, creator Millar also posted an entry about the shoot on his Web site:

"Screen-writer Jane Goldman and I were wearing out headsets and watching the monitor from early morning until we wrapped early evening both days, giggling at every line. Nobody knows this script better than me, Jane and director Matthew Vaughn, but we genuinely laughed at every take because these two actors just kept bringing something new to it."

You can read all of what he has to say about it right here. 

Most of the major studios refused to develop the project because of the comic’s excessive violence, which is why Vaughn raised the budget for the flick himself.