The Untold Truth of the Karate Kid

Well the karate kid is pretty much the perfect movie, there is far more to this film than sanding floors,
painting fences and beating bad guys.

The behind the scenes story is equally fascinating. Let’s take a look at why the Karate Kid is best around.

The saga of Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi all started when the producer Jerry Weintraub saw a news
story about a local kid who earned a black belt in karate to protect himself from a group of bullies.

(0:26) Weintraub was immediately inspired and soon enough Columbia pictures hired Robert Mark
Kamen to write a screenplay. If you’ve never heard Kamen’s name you’ve certainly seen his movies. The
man has written films like the lethal weapon three, the fifth element, the transporter and taken. And
when he was approached with the idea of a martial arts movie, Kamen was able to draw his personal
experience while writing the script. Afterall he’ve been studying karate for 17 years.

(0:45) He based the character of Mr. Miyagi on one of his instructors, while the character of John Kreese
was a combination of two people Kamen had known in real life: a tough Marine-turned-Karate
teacher and a martial arts teacher who ordered his students to injure their opponents.

“Mercy is for the weak, Here on the streets, in competition if a man confronts you he is the enemy.”

Other than maybe Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mr. Miyagi is probably the greatest movie mentor of all
time.

“Ohhh Daniel- San, You arll wet behind the ears, ha ha ha!”

Pat Morita is perfect in the role, and his performance earned him an Oscar nod for Best Supporting
actor. However, back in the day, Morita wasn’t such an obvious choice for the part of a martial
arts master. He used to be a comedian, and before the Karate Kid, Morita was best known for
playing the commercial character of Arnold on Happy Days. So when director John G. Avildsen
approached producer Jerry Weintraub with the idea of casting Morita as Miyagi, Weintraub
wouldn’t even considering it

“He was adamant. He says, ‘I don’t want a comedian. I don’t want a comic actor for this role. This is a
heavyweight part. I want an actor.’”

Weintraub wanted to go with the legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. But Avildsen was convinced
Morita was the right man for the job, so he went ahead and did a script reading with Morita and
then surprised Weintraub with the audition tape.

The producer was kind of impressed, although he required Morita to audition five more times before
giving him the gig. But after passing his fifth and final test, Morita finally nabbed the role.

Believe it or not, Ralph Macchio was 22 when he played the part of teenaged Daniel LaRusso but despite
the age gap, Macchio made for a perfect protagonist. Coming off Francis Ford Coppola’s The
Outsiders, Macchio had some steam heading into the Karate Kid, but when it came to landing
the role, his snarky attitude is what really helped him get the gig.

After screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen met Macchio to see if he was right for the role, he came away
describing the young actor as “ obnoxious” and really, that’s exactly what Kamen and John G.
 Avildsen wanted. They were looking for somebody with an attitude, a guy who would’t take crap
from anyone, just like Daniel. In fact, they liked Macchio so much that they kind of rewrote the
part of him. Originally his character was called “Daniel Webber,” but since Macchio was Italian,
they changed his last name to “LaRusso.”

As for William Zabka, the actor who played bully Johnny Lawrence, he probably got the job thanks to
some extreme method acting. When he was first trying out for the part, Zabka got so into
character that he actually grabbed Avildsen b y the shirt, which usually isn’t a smart idea when
you’re trying to impress the director. But in this case, it seems like Zabka’s bad guy persona paid
off because he was cast as the captain of the Cobra Kai, creating one of the most memorable
villains to come out of the 1980’s.

“look you started this, all I wanted to do was talk.” “Well just leave him alone and we’ll go talk.” “Yeah,
where did I hear that before?”

When Ralph Macchio and company signed up for The Karate Kid, none of them knew much about
martial arts. So to get them ready for a karate tournament, the filmmakers called in Pat E.
Johnson. This guy had studied tang soo do while serving in korea, and when he returned to
America, he joined up with Chuck Norris, working at one of Norris’ schools. Soon, Johnson
racked up an impressive fight record, and not only would he go on to work with stars like
Brandon Lee and Jackie Chan, he also had a part in Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. In other words,
Johnson’s combat skills were as legit as they come, and when he was hired as Karate Kid’s fight
choreographer, he got pretty creative when it came to instructing the actors. For example