Spoiler alert: Most of these ideas were… not good, to put it kindly.
But I do have some of the keepers that are well worth presenting.
Especially at this juncture, when I look smart for waiting and only agreeing toCobra Kai.
The cover of ‘Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me,’ by Ralph Macchio.Dutton
I understood that for the most part, it all still stemmed from the love of the original film.
But this was a big part of my legacy.
This was a period in my career when I was actively trying to separate from the typecasting.
Ralph Macchio in ‘The Karate Kid Part II’ and Sylvester Stallone in ‘Rocky II’.Everett Collection (2)
I must admit on most occasions it was challenging to get past the first few sentences.
Miyagi dies tragically and comes back as a ghost to guide you.
You have a kid that is a bully and you should probably be the Miyagi to your troubled kid .
who also has a drug problem.
Ali is pregnant with Johnny’s child and you could’t deal even though you’re now married to Kumiko.
Those are just a few that stick in my mind.
The best part is that they were completely serious and came from a perspective of trying to help.
Upon recollection, that still brings me joy.
I mean, I do have the greatest, most caring fans.
But at the time, I could only smile through the pain of some of these story concepts.
Then there was one of my favorites.
It was delivered by a screenwriter to both John Avildsen and myself at a lunch with two studio executives.
This was all and everything that is both great and terrible about Hollywood.
I believe we were having the lunch to discuss a separate movie project that never did come to fruition.
This was after theHilary Swankversion,The Next Karate Kid, had come and gone.
John had directed bothRockyandThe Karate Kid, so that lent itself to this writer’s conceptual idea.
People would go nuts!
It seemed to last for ten minutes, though it was probably only four seconds.
How to process it and respond?
John and I shared a mystified look about the concept of this crossover idea.
My mind raced to gather visions of Stallone and me running through the slums of Newark.
Then John burst into laughter, simply responding that it would not work and was a forced idea.
I believe he diplomatically said he wasn’t interested in combining those two franchises or those characters.
Clearly this was before DC Comics and Marvel changed the landscape of the cinematic superhero world.
What did we know?
But for that moment it was both intriguing and hilarious.
It was a classic Hollywood show-business moment I’ll never forget.
There were a fair number of other nudges and “Come on, man!
For the most part they were shortsighted ideas.
That partnership was paramount.
It was easier to just say no thank you.
And I was at peace with that.
I remember being asked, “Where do you think LaRusso is now?
What happened to him?”
This was probably around 2010, when the remake was out.
And I didn’t really have a perfect answer.
I never dove into or considered the “What ever happened to…?”
Whatever happened to Daniel was whatever you saw on-screen.
That’s where it ended.
Both characters had love story lines that had never been resolved or even brought up again.
Those stories had been abandoned.
I think in real life, that is where LaRusso would have returned to.
At the least to further explore that romantic relationship with Kumiko.
But that never materialized, nor was it in the screenwriting cards.
The studio chose a different direction.
It had become a classic.
Billy Zabka, myKarate Kidco-star, was always more open to exploring than I was.
Something bigger and better was on its way.
