Netflix's Cobra Kai has completely reinvigorated the Karate Kid franchise. Who would have thought that many of the original cast members would return to a franchise that both honored the legacy of the project and moved it forward? While Ralph Macchio had specific reasons why he ended up back in the role of Daniel LaRusso, there's no doubt he was thrilled to be cast in the original 1984 film. Not only did it make him a decent amount of money but opened up a new phase of his career.
The cast of the original Karate Kid also included Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller, William Zabka, Ron Thomas, Chad McQueen, and, of course, the late-great Pat Morita. There are many things fans don't know about the making of The Karate Kid, but one of them is the truth about the casting process. Aside from the fact that numerous major celebrities to be were considered for the main roles but lost out, there was a secret to the casting process that was revealed in an eye-opening article by Sports Illustrated. Here's the truth about the casting process...
Casting A-Lister's Family Members And Finding The Right Daniel LaRusso For The Karate Kid
The secret to casting the original Karate Kid was hiring the son and daughters of a bunch of famous people for the supporting roles. While this rule didn't apply to the main cast, producer Jerry Weintraub thought that it would add a specific flavor to the world... and maybe entice more famous people to pay attention to their little movie that could. Most famously, the supporting cast included Steve McQueen's son, Chad, as well as Frankie Avalon Jr., who was John Travolta's nephew. At one point, Ricky Nelson's daughter was going to play one of Elisabeth Shue's character's friends. But she dropped out. But the plan still worked.
While Ralph Macchio was one of the more established actors of the lot thanks to his role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, he was still relatively new. The casting director, Bonnie Timmermann, had seen The Outsiders and felt that Ralph could easily carry his own film. So, she brought him in. Immediately, director John Avildsen was taken with him.
"John called me up [to his apartment on 89th Street in Manhattan] and said he was bringing someone over. I open the door and there’s Ralph: no musculature, a skinny little string bean of a kid. He wasn’t particularly coordinated for martial arts. I showed him some simple blocking and punching moves and he couldn’t do them at all. I said: 'That’s perfect. We have a kid that knows nothing.' I wanted a wimp. And Ralph is the paradigmatic wimp," writer Robert Mark Kamen explained.
As for some of the names Ralph reportedly beat out... Well, Robert Downey Jr. was up for the role as was Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, and Charlie Sheen.
Casting The Right Mr. Miyagi And The Supporting Cast
Jerry Weintraub really wanted the most famous Japanese actor in the world to play the iconic role of Mr. Miyagi. In fact, according to Ralph Macchio, Jerry really wanted one of the Seven Samurai actors to play him. This is what led them to Toshiro Mifune, who also starred in The Hidden Fortress and Rashomon. But Toshiro's English skills were terrible. Instead, they found Pat Morita... the opposite of Toshiro Mifune.
Pat was a stand-up comic. A filthy one at that. He was also the owner of Arnold's Drive-In on Happy Days... He was far from the stoic Japanese dramatic actor. Nobody wanted him but his name was brought up...
"Jerry goes, 'Are you kidding? I used to [work in stand-up] with Pat Morita in the Catskills. He was called the Hip Nip (employing a slur that abbreviates Nippon). He used to wear his eyeglasses upside down. How can you even think the Hip Nip is good for this movie?'"Production coordinator Susan Ekins said in the interview with Sports Illustrated.
While Jerry was against hiring Pat (who eventually got nominated for an Oscar for the role), the director, John Avildsen was 100% behind the choice. As was Pat and his family who had suffered a number of personal tragedies leading up to the casting. Additionally, Pat was sick of playing the tokenized and somewhat racist stereotypes gifted to Asian-American actors in the industry at that time. As soon as John put Pat on tape, Jerry was convinced. In fact, he apparently broke down in tears and stated proudly, "That is Mr. Miyagi".
As for the rest of the supporting cast, Elisabeth Shue hadn't done a single project other than a Burger King commercial and a pilot of ABC. But she was beautiful and fresh-faced and one of the most intelligent young women the crew had ever met. While the Cobra Kai team was supposed to be a bunch of 'generic' kids, finding William Zabka was a major win in making the opposing team far more dynamic.
"My audition was at the Columbia Pictures lot. The role was this gang leader—tough karate guy—and so it wasn’t a friendly environment [among the other actors trying out]. I didn’t want to sit in the waiting room, so I went in my dad’s 1970 red Volvo station wagon and cranked some Zebra until they called me in," William Zabka said. "A week later, I read with Ralph. Afterward, I hid around the corner outside until it was almost dusk. When Ralph came out I said, 'Hey, how’d it go?” He goes, 'Everybody was really good. I told them you scared the s--- out of me.'"
