wax on
RALPHMACCHIOTALKSBELTINGKARATEKID
FOLLOW-UPCOBRAKAI...
You hadn’t played Danny since ’89...
did you think your karate days were
behind you?
Definitely. For 30 years I’ve had people,
some accomplished writers, say, ‘How
about this?’ And it was never that
appealing. It never seemed fresh. I was
the last guy still to come to the party
when Cobra Kai was brought to me by
Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden
Schlossberg. I was stiff-arming it,
because why undercut that legacy if
you’re going to miss? But these guys
were the kids who saw the movie 20
times in the theatre. They wanted to tell
the story fans would want to see.What was fresh about Cobra Kai?
With The Karate Kid, it was clearly black-
and-white, good-over-evil, ‘Miyagi
and Daniel LaRusso, good; Cobra Kai
and Johnny Lawrence, bad.’ With
Cobra Kai you’re able to dive into the
grey areas of who they are. And it’s so
smartly realised from the perspective
of Johnny Lawrence years later, at least
at the onset of the series. It’s a way to
be nostalgic, and yet be relevant for the
time we’re in now.Do you see Daniel and Johnny as two
sides of the same coin?
That’s what’s so fun about this show –
they’re not that far off the path. It’s just
that one had an evil mentor, and the
other had, you know, a human Yoda in
Mr Miyagi. So it’s not as simple as, ‘Oh,
he’s a jerk now, and he’s the good guy’.
They’re both jerks at times, and they’re
both great guys at times.The show has teased a rematch
between Daniel and Johnny for two
years – will they ever face off?
We talk about it like the Ross and
Rachel of our show – as soon as they get
together, the show’s over! It’s satisfyingand frustrating at the same time. The
show is really a soap opera, in a way. The
younger characters’ story is very Romeo
And Juliet. It’s a heightened reality, but
somehow we’re making it relatable.
And then it’s got the goosebumps
woven into the ridiculousness of this
30-year-old rivalry.Was it a challenge to pick up the
karate skills again?
That was tough, and it still is [laughs].
A lot of stretching is required! We’re
there warming up way before the
kids are. But it’s fun. We have great
stunt coordinators in Hiro Koda and
Jahnel Curfman – they’ve both been
nominated for Emmys. So we’ve got
to do our homework.Was it bittersweet returning without
Daniel’s sensei Pat Morita?
There’s no Cobra Kai without Pat
Morita’s performance, because that
was a big part of the magic that was The
Karate Kid. Before I jumped on board the
show I said, “If the essence of Mr Miyagi
is not woven throughout the entirety of
the series, then it’s not something I’m
interested in.” In [Season] 3, there’s a
really strong presence, because Daniel is
beyond lost, and there are two episodes
where he goes to Okinawa. We dive into
the origins of Miyagi-Do Karate, and
things about who Mr Miyagi was that
Daniel might not have even known.
That’s something I asked for.Did it bring back memories of making
The Karate Kid Part II?
It did. The toughest day emotionally for
me was when they rebuilt the Miyagi
house for our show. That first day I was
shooting with Tanner [Buchanan], who
plays my young student. He’s painting
the fence and sanding the deck and
all those things. I stood there and gotSEE THIS
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WATCHMEN
Anothersuccessful
TVsequeltoan’s
classicFewergiant
bluedongsinCobra
KaithoughL
aunched in 2018, Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai picks up 34 years
after Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) crane-kicked his way to victory
against Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) in the All Valley Karate
Tournament. Old rivalries spark when Lawrence reopens the
notorious Cobra Kai dojo, leading to a war for the hearts and minds of the next
generation of students. With Season 3 imminent, OG Karate Kid Ralph Macchio
tells us how to successfully update an ’80s classic for the streaming age...MartinKovemakes
adelightfulreturnas
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