Apart from four jiu-jitsu lessons when I was 10, I had no martial arts experience. Before filming, I was trained in Okinawan Gōjū-ryū karate by Pat E Johnson, who coordinated the fight scenes and played the head referee in the tournament at the end of the film.
If you've seen The Karate Kid film, he played the referee in the final tournament, and that was Pat Johnson. He taught all of us, trained me in goju-ryu style, Okinawan classic karate, and Pat Morita as well. He was a big part of creating all of those sequences. Most often I don't [use a stunt double].
How Cobra Kai Shoots Fight Scenes With Untrained Actors. Though actors like Ralph Macchio and William Zabka have their Karate Kid days on their resumes, they haven't had the kind of formal training that would make them karate masters. The same is true for the younger cast members in Corba Kai.
Question: What was your relationship with Pat Morita like? Ralph Macchio: On screen, it was magic. I call it soulful magic. He and I were close, friendly.
Does Ralph Macchio, the actor from The Karate Kid, actually have any karate training in real life? Not by a long shot; though it should be noted that neither were cast to be great martial artists, and instead were hired to be amazing actors.
He is a Black Belt in Hapkido and trained in other Martial Arts styles such as Karate, Judo, Wushu Kung Fu Taekwondo and Jeet Kune Do. He has been acting since the 1960s, appearing in over 150 films winning over 28 film awards for various achievements.
Ralph's voice is just way different today. He was in his 20's back then when making the Karate Kid movies, so you'd think he would still sound like that today. In the 80's he had more of a Jersey accent too, but his voice just sounded different than it does today overall. It's softer now that it was back then.
Well, wonder no longer, because the ageless Macchio has the answer. In an appearance on The Late Show on Tuesday, the Cobra Kai star told host Stephen Colbert that the vintage automobile (aka the “wax on, wax off car”) was gifted to him after Karate Kid Part III wrapped.
Not very. The martial arts require endless hours of instruction, sparring, drilling, exercising, etc. It requires years to become good in any form, a lifetime to become a master. Yet Cobra Kai depicts adolescents and 20-somethings becoming expert fighters in what appears to be a very short time.
Based on the real-life rules (via the USA National Karate-do Federation), it does seem that the move was illegal — but not because Johnny was hit in the face. Strikes to the face and front kicks are actually permitted according to these rules, as long as the strike isn't open palmed.
Zabka played Johnny Lawrence, the main antagonist to the title character and protagonist played by Ralph Macchio. Zabka had no training in karate at the time but was an accomplished wrestler. Participating in the film inspired Zabka to learn the martial art of Tang Soo Do and he later earned a second–degree green belt.
He also studied Karate under Sato, who was himself a student of Mr. Miyagi's father. As a child, Chozen would cheat during his Uncle Sato's Karate lessons. As a teenager, Chozen was quick-tempered, had difficulties with Kumiko, and was Daniel's rival (The Karate Kid Part II).
Though List also played basketball and ran track and field growing up, she'd never done any karate before being cast in season two except for a 45-minute intro session leading up to that first fight scene against All Valley champ Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) in the Cobra Kai dojo.
Apart from four jiu-jitsu lessons when I was 10, I had no martial arts experience. Before filming, I was trained in Okinawan Gōjū-ryū karate by Pat E Johnson, who coordinated the fight scenes and played the head referee in the tournament at the end of the film.
However, fans everywhere shrieked when Macchio admitted that then- and now-castmate Zabka never got along. The duo played foes—Macchio as Daniel LaRusso and Zabka as Johnny Lawrence—in the original 1984 film The Karate Kid.
Why did Ralph Macchio stop making Karate Kid movies?
Despite his youthful appearance, Macchio was in his early thirties when shooting The Karate Kid Part III, and so was deemed too old to continue in the role for further movies.
Not much information is available for the salaries and backend points he earned for his original three The Karate Kid movies. It's likely that he made upwards of $200,000 at the most for the first, which was a good salary. He had already been in a bunch of TV shows and some movies, so $200,000 could have been offered.
His father is of half Italian and half Greek descent, and his mother is of Italian ancestry. In a 1980 screen test, Macchio said his family was from Naples. In 1979, Macchio graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, New York.
