Reuters: Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio blend fighting techniques to train a new karate kid in the latest instalment of the martial arts movie franchise.
“Karate Kid: Legends”, released this week, stars Ben Wang as Beijing kung fu whizz Li Fong who moves with his mother to New York, where he befriends pizza restaurant owner and retired boxer Victor and his daughter Mia.
The original 1984 film “The Karate Kid” who learned karate from mentor Mr Miyagi.
“They presented the concept to me … connecting the Miyagi to the Han family and how that made sense … I was like ‘That’s kind of clever. Okay, so how do we maintain this connective tissue into Li Fong’s story that is organic and truthful’,” Macchio told Reuters in a joint interview with Chan and Wang.
“That was the challenge at first and figuring that out. Working with Jackie was like, ‘Woohoo sign me up – when, where?’ And then who’s the kid? If we don’t love this kid, then you have no movie. So all those, like it happens with ‘The Karate Kid’ universe, is magic dust that comes down and somehow it continues to resonate. So I’m excited for the next generation version.”
