If the director had his druthers, “The Karate Kid” would be known by a very different name.
On Tuesday night, Ralph Macchio appeared on “The Tonight Show” to promote the new season of “Cobra Kai”, and he looked back on the making of the original “Karate Kid”.
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“I thought, and I was not the only one who thought, it was kind of a hokey, kind of a cheesy title for a movie being directed by the guy who made ‘Rocky’,” Macchio said. “But maybe it was foreshadowing. Maybe I thought if I ever got the part I’d have to carry the damn thing for the rest of my life.”
Asked if there was an alternate title considered for the film, the actor recalled, “I think John Avildsen, our director, said maybe it’s ‘East Meets West in West?’”
Macchio also talked about getting cast in the movie and being worried that a bigger star was up for the role.
“I was found early. I was cast very early, but it was like one of those test deals where you’re not in yet. And I remember walking by and seeing Charlie Sheen hanging outside,” he said, joking that he was confused because Sheen didn’t look like “an Italian guy from Jersey.”
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Also on the show, Macchio talked about season 3 of “Cobra Kai” and the chemistry of the cast on set.
“It’s a good, yin-yang,” he said. “The chemistry we had from the get-go is something I didn’t expect to be as rich as it was.”
