- 6 days ago
With 'The Karate Kid' turning 35 and 'Cobra Kai' gearing up to shoot season three, 'Heat Vision Breakdown' puts Ralph Macchio in the hot seat.
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00:00Hello friends, this week on Heat Vision Breakdown we are joined by very special guest Ralph Macchio who is the
00:05star of Cobra Kai Season 2 available right now on YouTube.
00:08We're also celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Karate Kid. Thanks so much for being here.
00:11Thanks, thanks for having me man.
00:12Absolutely.
00:17Let's start off a little bit with Cobra Kai Season 2.
00:20This season you take on more of a Miyagi-esque nature to your character. You're a mentor now.
00:25That's right. He's trying to carry on the legacy and focused on showing the San Fernando Valley students the better
00:32way.
00:32And it's kind of it's pretty big stakes for LaRusso because he has to live up to that legacy and
00:38carry on the teachings of his mentor without the ability to have his mentor to tap into.
00:43And just some of the hurdles that happen is just I always describe is just because you have knowledge of
00:49a subject doesn't necessarily mean you know how to teach it.
00:51And that every student is different and you know Miyagi had one kid.
00:56You know LaRusso is trying to recruit a ton of students and when you know doing backyard chores is the
01:03base of the theory it's kind of tough to get the kids to come on over.
01:07But it works you won the championship.
01:08Yes it does for sure. I mean listen there's not a car that hasn't been waxed that hasn't paid off
01:13for this guy.
01:15Speaking of Karate Kid it is the 35th anniversary of the film which is crazy.
01:19What scene from that film do you think really kind of captures the essence of that story.
01:24What's the scene that you kind of look back on with fondness.
01:27Well there are you know there are more than a few.
01:29I guess one of the scenes that touches me the most is the drunk scene.
01:33Where you learn of Miyagi's back story and you watch this kid view his mentor from a different perspective.
01:40And then take that knowledge that he's learned and carrying on himself and into that transition of the montage.
01:45Also the scene where we all learn what all these chores were and that they pay off to be you
01:51know martial arts defensive moves.
01:54There's a lot of magic in that movie.
01:56I know people would like to say you know getting my ass kicked by the Cobra Kai is my most
02:00fond memory.
02:01But great as they were there's a lot.
02:04One of the scenes that I personally love is obviously the wax on wax off scene.
02:08That car the 1948 Ford Super Deluxe Club Convertible.
02:11I've heard that you still own that car.
02:13Is that true?
02:14It's partly true.
02:16I definitely own the car.
02:17It was a 47 Ford.
02:19Oh my gosh.
02:19That's not you.
02:21It's somewhere out there in the ether that it's a 48.
02:23I think they made replicas that they've sold like little toys and it says 48 Super Deluxe.
02:28But it's a 1947 Ford.
02:30It is featured in the Cobra Kai series in season 2 and going forward as we are now prepping
02:36up to shoot season 3.
02:38Yeah.
02:39It's just fantastic to have the actual car in the show now.
02:43It's a character.
02:45It's the one girl that's stuck by LaRusso all these years.
02:48I've also heard that Chuck Norris was originally offered the role of the Cobra Kai sensei.
02:53Is that true?
02:54Do you know anything about that?
02:55I believe this is a truth or consequences kind of interview.
02:58I really feel like.
02:59It's hard hitting.
02:59I'm sorry.
03:00I feel like they should be like lie detector stuff.
03:03Chuck Norris, I know this much.
03:05That was certainly in the conversation for sensei Kreese you're saying?
03:08Yes.
03:09Yes.
03:09The casting of Marty Cove took place very late.
03:12We were already shooting the movie when he came in and he was on a show called Cagney
03:17and Lacey at the time.
03:18So it was once they found him and once that was a match it was about figuring out how he
03:22could
03:23do it and fortunately for us Marty Cove is the Darth Vader of the 80's and now back in
03:27Cobra Kai and throwing a wrench in everyone's lives.
03:30Still iconic.
03:31I hate to change tacks to something a little bit more serious but in 2005 when Pat Morita
03:35passed away you gave a eulogy at his funeral.
03:38What did you say?
03:39How was that experience for you?
03:40Well that was, certainly it was a tough day.
03:44It was my privilege to do it.
03:46I was nervous at what to say so I didn't do a lot of prep outside of speaking from my
03:54heart
03:54and knowing how rare it is to have that sort of piece of magic that I would always call
04:00my relationship with him and those performances a bit of soulful magic and I think that still
04:06resonates in the Karate Kid film and even in Cobra Kai it's real important to have that
04:11because the essence of what he brought to that role is something that has become a piece of
04:17pop culture.
04:17There was one line I had in my head that I wanted to end when I spoke of him and
04:23what he meant
04:24to me is forever my sensei.
04:27I just, it came up to me on the plane out to Vegas which is where the services were and
04:32I said that
04:33and it's kind of stuck in the press and I'm proud of it.
04:36You've had a lot of great cameos over the years on shows like How I Met Your Mother,
04:40you were on Entourage which is one that always sticks out to me.
04:42The thing about Entourage was is that it dealt with an experience that happened at the Playboy Mansion
04:47I'm wondering if there was any truth behind that.
04:50Oh God.
04:51You want me to unleash all my, all my nights, my late nights into early mornings at the Playboy Mansion
04:57before the wife and kids.
04:58So we do know that there were late nights.
05:00Yeah, no.
05:01You know what?
05:02Sadly, the first and last time I spent 13, 14 hours at the Playboy Mansion was shooting
05:08that scene from Entourage.
05:09Ah.
05:10So sadly I have no true stories that I'm going to disclose now.
05:14You were also in The Outsiders which is a very, another really iconic movie.
05:18It launched so many careers.
05:19Love that film.
05:19It's a fantastic movie.
05:20It had a really grueling audition process from what I've heard.
05:24How was that audition process for you personally?
05:26It was a tough audition process.
05:28Francis Coppola who directed The Outsiders did something that is often is never done which
05:32is getting hundreds it felt like.
05:35It was probably maybe 50 actors in one soundstage to sit around the perimeter and then he would
05:41call different actors to play different roles like it was theater camp.
05:44So you're essentially in front of a video camera and this table with Francis Ford Coppola
05:49and his casting people in 12 different teen magazines as he's trying to plug and play who
05:54would be right for these iconic, these roles that are iconic as far as, maybe not iconic
05:59but famous through the book.
06:00So you're watching other actors perform trying not to be informed by their reactions of the
06:05director.
06:06And then you're being viewed by a theater community as you're being judged for the role.
06:12It was very difficult.
06:14For him, he just felt he was creating this, you know, how to get the chemistry all working
06:19together.
06:20So whether it was Mickey Rourke or Dennis Quaid or Matt Dillon or myself or Tom Cruise or Scott
06:25Baio or, I mean it was just like all these people auditioning.
06:30And fortunately for me I got the part I wanted.
06:33I read a few scenes and then I read his Ponyboy in 2-bit and, but I just wanted to
06:39play this
06:39Johnny character.
06:40And I actually raised my hand to do a monologue from the book because I felt I wasn't getting
06:45the attention.
06:46I think the reason I wasn't getting the attention is because he had made up his mind.
06:50So lucky for me I got to play one of the best roles in that movie.
06:54Yeah, well it worked out for you and for us as the audience too.
06:56Because it is, like you said, it's an iconic movie.
06:58It also has a really iconic poster of all you guys kind of laughing and smiling together.
07:03I had heard that the reason that you were all laughing and smiling is because you cracked
07:06a joke about Leif Garrett off set trying to eat at a craft service table.
07:09I did.
07:10I did.
07:11I don't like totally regret it, but it's like I wish there was another story.
07:16It is, it's, I almost forgot that until someone brought it up.
07:20I don't know if it was Emilio or Rob Lowe or, we reminded me of, we were taking all
07:25these shots, all these different kind of photos like rooting, greasers, tough guys,
07:31street guys.
07:31And then we, they put us all in this sort of circle and I said, we're just going to take
07:35a group shot here.
07:37And then one of the production guys behind the camera saying, listen, everything over
07:40here, all the food over here is just for the talent.
07:43It's, you know, he was telling the crew guys and Leif Garrett was walking by.
07:46I said, remember Leif, he just said, that's just for the talent.
07:49And he got this big laugh and you know, cause it's the, it's the greasers and associates
07:53and he played associates and we were the greasers.
07:55So there was a bit of that, that rivalry stuff going on.
07:59And then I, I instantly like the left side of my brain or the right side of my brain had
08:02like a little sympathy, like boy, that was a little harsh.
08:05And then the other side of my brain was like, yeah, you know, I just nailed him.
08:07And we laugh about it to this day.
08:10And obviously everybody just cracked up and there's, there's the picture.
08:14Right.
08:15To jump out of the eighties into the nineties a little bit.
08:17You were also in my cousin Vinny.
08:18Yeah.
08:19Jonathan Lin had never seen the Karate Kid before casting you.
08:22Is that true?
08:22That's true.
08:23That's crazy.
08:23He goes, what is this Karate Kid?
08:25What is it about?
08:27About a kid he does his karate.
08:28Is it good?
08:28And it was funny because I think the studio at the time, we're just like, yeah, you don't
08:31want him.
08:32He's the Karate Kid guy.
08:34I, you know, from the, we were looking at, I know some of the names that were on the
08:38list.
08:38I don't want to say that either because I don't want to dog anybody.
08:41They're big stars now.
08:42Okay.
08:42The two names, the two names that they, that the studio wanted were, were, are super huge
08:48stars right now.
08:49And then Jonathan was just like, yeah, but he's like perfect for the role.
08:52Let me see this Karate Kid thing.
08:55And it's great because I, you know, I auditioned, I got the part for the right reasons.
08:59I like to believe.
09:00Yeah.
09:00Did he ever watch it afterwards?
09:01Yes.
09:01Okay.
09:02So he has seen the Karate Kid.
09:03He said, oh, I should have cast you before you came in.
09:05He's the one person.
09:05He's great.
09:06He's a great guy.
09:07And that movie, my cousin Vinny, I call it the late for dinner movie.
09:09If it's on, you're going to be late for dinner.
09:11I love it.
09:12I'd also heard that Will Smith was originally up for the role as your character's sidekick
09:16in that film.
09:16Did you ever do a screen test with him?
09:17Yes.
09:18That's one of the big movie stars.
09:19Really?
09:19Okay.
09:20Yeah.
09:20Well, I might as well go out right now.
09:21It's Ben Stiller and Will Smith.
09:22Wow.
09:22He's the studio on it.
09:24And even though he's written as Vinny's cousin, they said, well, we'll figure that out later.
09:30Will actually did come in to read and we read together for My Cousin Vinny at one point.
09:35And I think when he called me once they decided to make a remake of The Karate Kid in 2010,
09:41my opening line was, the last time I saw you was when we auditioned for My Cousin Vinny.
09:45That's the first and last time that I got the part and you didn't.
09:49We had fun.
09:50I don't know if you remember this.
09:51In 1992, you were on Letterman and you were 30 years old is what you said in the interview.
09:55You said, to me, it's traumatic when I look 30.
09:57I figure in 20 years, I'll be there.
09:59That was almost 30 years ago and you still look like you're hovering right around 30.
10:03How are you staying so youthful?
10:04Yeah, it's my parents' fault.
10:05I don't know.
10:07Maybe it's martial arts, but I do very little martial arts unless the camera's rolling.
10:11I would blame it on my parents, good genes and a decently healthy lifestyle.
10:15Yeah, I got that youthful thing.
10:17There's a tie-in for My Cousin Vinny.
10:19See, look at that.
10:20Just segueing everything together.
10:22Did you say youths?
10:23Yeah, two youths.
10:24Can you still crank it?
10:26You're not going to see it.
10:29That's not a no.
10:30Yes, it's not a no.
10:31It probably doesn't look quite as good as it did 35 years ago.
10:34But I don't.
10:35I get asked all the time.
10:36The only time I will assume the position outside of for the Cobra Kai series, which we did in
10:42Season 2 in one episode, is when I get asked by the troops on the military bases.
10:46If they ask me, then we're all in.
10:50And that usually shuts everybody else up.
10:51Nice.
10:52Crank kicking for the troops.
10:53I'll ask you one last question and it's the hardest one.
10:55People have said that possibly your character in the Karate Kid, in the original one, cheated
11:00in that tournament because they made blows to the head illegal.
11:03Mm-hmm.
11:03Do you view yourself as a cheater?
11:05I don't view him as a cheater.
11:06I mean, I don't think anyone.
11:08It's the great thing about all this stuff and the fan theories and the pop culture relevance
11:13of justice for Johnny and it was an illegal crane kick.
11:16You should have never won.
11:17That stuff, people say, how do you feel?
11:19We feel bad.
11:20No, you don't feel bad.
11:21They're talking about your movie 35 years later.
11:23We have a hit show, somehow, that's relevant in 2019 because of great writing first and
11:31foremost and great performances, but because of this relevance in pop culture.
11:38If they could keep talking about the movie, it's awesome.
11:41I think it doesn't hold water.
11:42I think everyone who was in the movie theater back in the day or saw that movie was not rooting
11:47against the kid that was being beat up constantly.
11:50Right.
11:50But it's awfully fun to go on technicalities now and if it wasn't a legal kick, it makes
11:57for better storytelling.
11:58Well, The Karate Kid indoors.
12:00The second season is available right now on YouTube of Cobra Kai and it's the 35th anniversary.
12:05One of the best movies ever in Karate Kid.
12:07Ralph Macchio, thank you so much for coming by.
12:09Thanks for having me.
12:09I had fun.
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