Long Island's Ralph Macchio returns in 'Karate Kid: Legends': 'It's just been a joy, and really cool, to be back up on the big screen where I started this all'

Around this time last year, Ralph Macchio was wrapping up "Cobra Kai," the hit Netflix series that reintroduced Daniel LaRusso, the underdog hero he played in 1984’s now-classic "The Karate Kid," to a whole new generation. It was the series’ sixth and final season, but Macchio and LaRusso weren't yet done with each other. They had one more round to go in the new Sony feature "Karate Kid: Legends."

"I literally wrapped and the next day flew to Montreal, and I was on set," the Huntington-born Macchio says. "It's just been a joy, and really cool, to be back up on the big screen where I started this all."

"Karate Kid: Legends" marks the sixth film in an enduring franchise that has earned more than $600 million, according to data at BoxOfficeMojo, and that's not even counting the streaming series and a short-lived animated show on NBC in the late ‘80s. Written by Shoreham's Rob Lieber from a story and characters created by Robert Mark Kamen (also of the "Taken" franchise), "Karate Kid: Legends" casts newcomer Ben Wang in the lead role of Li Fong, a teenage transplant from China to New York City. After he begins courting Mia (Sadie Stanley,  "Kim Possible"), he runs afoul of her ex-boyfriend, Connor (Aramis Knight), who challenges him to fight in the Five Boroughs Tournament. To win, Li will need the skills of his old teacher, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) and a new one (Macchio's LaRusso).

MACCHIO'S LINK

The real link to the original "Karate Kid" films is Macchio’s LaRusso, who arrives midway through the narrative to help Mr. Han train his young charge. (Macchio has appeared in all but two films in the franchise, 1994’s "The Next Karate Kid," starring a young Hilary Swank, and a 2010 reboot, "The Karate Kid," which starred Jaden Smith and first introduced Chan as Mr. Han). Though Macchio’s role is no longer the starring one, his presence seems crucial, especially following the success of his Netflix series.

"At one point, this movie was coming out in the middle of the ‘Cobra Kai’ series," Macchio says. ("Legends" was originally scheduled for release in June of last year but was postponed until December due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike; the current release date was announced last April.) "Fortunately, smarter minds came to pass and they're releasing it at the right point," Macchio adds, "hopefully when the ‘Cobra Kai’ fan base is starved for another piece of the story."

In November 2023, Macchio and Chan appeared in a 36-second video that served as a casting call for the new star of "Legends." After the two joshed around about their differing martial arts methods, Macchio looked into the camera and said, "Maybe the new Karate Kid will have to do it all."

He wasn’t joking. Jonathan Entwistle, a British director making his feature film debut with "Legends," says he was looking for a young Chinese actor with the wholesome appeal of a Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox’s endearing character in "Back to the Future") or a Peter Parker (the amiable teen who becomes Spider-Man). The ideal candidate would also speak Mandarin and be able to convincingly perform kung-fu. The executives at Sony, Entwistle says, were skeptical.

MEET BEN WANG

"They were like, ‘What? A Chinese Marty McFly that can do martial arts? Dude, it's never going to happen,’" the director recalls. "And then Ben popped up."

Wang, born in Shanghai, raised mostly in Minnesota and now based in New York City, says he submitted his audition video late in the process. After hearing that some 10,000 actors had applied for the job — a number Entwistle confirms — Wang figured the filmmakers had enough to choose from. But his agents convinced him to give it a shot, he says, and after several flights to Los Angeles for callbacks he wound up with the role. "I lucked out," he says.

Wang won’t reveal his age, but notes that he was eight or nine years old when he first saw 2010’s "The Karate Kid" and, inspired, began taking tae kwon do lessons after school. An aunt, he adds, showed him the original trilogy of movies with Macchio, which were among her favorites. "These films have been a part of my life since forever," Wang says. "It's generations passing it down to the next one, and this is just the next leg in that journey."

BIG FAN OF JACKIE CHAN

Wang was also a childhood fan of Chan, the Hong Kong filmmaker and martial-arts choreographer famous for performing his own stunts. "It's like meeting and working with Santa Claus, you know?" Wang says of him. "He was basically a mythological figure in my head up until the day that I met him."

The 71-year-old Chan encouraged the younger actor to do things he didn’t think he could do, Wang says, including a series of grueling, full-body situps while hanging upside-down from a ladder as part of a training montage (a must-have in any "Karate Kid" movie). The original plan, which involved pulling Wang up with a rope attached to a rig, ran into technical difficulties, he recalls.

"None of the rig was working, and Jackie Chan was sitting there next me," Wang recalls. "And he nudged me. He basically was like, ‘You should just do it, you wimp.’" Wang did — complete with Mr. Han’s jacket-on, jacket-off move for extra stamina. "You can’t say no to Jackie Chan (Wang doesn’t profess to be a martial arts expert; he says he spent roughly six weeks training before filming began.)

One more detail about Wang: He’s the first Asian star of a "Karate Kid" film. "Yeah, it feels cool," Wang says, but he notes that the franchise is built on a universal appeal. "Anybody can be the Karate Kid, right?" he says. "I think this is just a continuation of that. I'm very happy and proud to be the next link."

REMEMBERING MORITA

"Karate Kid: Legends" also nods to the late Pat Morita, the Japanese-American actor who played Mr. Miyagi, a hard-nosed but good-hearted sensei. Morita, who first uttered the words "wax on, wax off" — surely one of the most oft-quoted phrases in American movies — died in 2005 at the age of 73. His brief appearance in "Karate Kid: Legends" is a flashback scene lifted from 1986’s "The Karate Kid Part II."

"There's a line in the movie that I was instrumental in making sure was in the film," Macchio says. It comes as LaRusso struggles with whether or not to teach what he learned from Miyagi to a kid he’s never met, and Macchio can quote it by heart: "Every time I get the chance to spread a piece of his legacy," he says, "it's never the wrong choice."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com