Ralph Macchio has had a long and successful career but there’s no doubt that the character he’s most associated with is Daniel LaRusso from ‘The Karate Kid’ franchise. He played the character in three films – ‘The Karate Kid’ (1984), ‘The Karate Kid Part II’ (1986) and ‘The Karate Kid Part III’ (1989) – and he reprised the role for the hit series ‘Cobra Kai’, which started in 2018 and is still going strong. Nearly 40 years after the original film was released, Macchio is sharing his experiences and stories from the franchise in his new book ‘Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me’.
If you’re expecting a bog standard autobiography then Macchio’s book isn’t going to be for you. Rather than dragging the reader through his childhood and every little detail that happened before becoming famous, Macchio instead almost solely focuses on ‘The Karate Kid’ franchise. While he does share stories from other parts of his career, he always brings it back to ‘The Karate Kid’ and the end result is a fascinating insight into a franchise that has had a huge impact on popular culture.
Macchio tells his stories in a charismatic and engaging way, and his enthusiasm drips off every page. He opens the book by talking about the long process of securing the lead role in ‘The Karate Kid’ and you get the impression that he still can’t believe his look all these years on. Macchio shares with the reader his original dislike of the title and really helps them dive into a world he’s been a huge part of for a very long time.
What shines through in the book is Macchio’s passion for the franchise and his respect for the cast and crew members he’s worked with. The late Pat Morita, who played Mr. Miyagi, Daniel’s disciplined teacher, is remembered fondly by Macchio who admits he wasn’t sure Morita was the right actor to play the pivotal role. Once the two screen tested, it became clear there chemistry would go down in cinematic history and Macchio frequently praises his late co-star.
It's interesting to note that Macchio is honest about the franchise too. He admits to having some issues with the original script for ‘The Karate Kid’ and he explains away the lesser sequels by informing the reader he was locked into a multi-film contract when he signed on for the first film. He does acknowledge though that ‘The Karate Kid Part III’, while not well-received by fans, did lay the groundwork for the story that continues on in ‘Cobra Kai’.
‘Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me’ is a breath of fresh air in the autobiography genre. Macchio understands what the reader wants to know and he more than delivers. At times touching and always engaging, the book is a real love letter to the franchise that made Macchio a globally recognised actor and fans of ‘Cobra Kai’ will delight finding out more about how that came to be.
Publisher: Dutton Release date: 20th October 2022 Buy ‘Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me’ now
Morgan Evans joins Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen to talk about his new song “Over For You.” Written about his divorce from Kelsea Ballerini, “Over For You” is Evans' most vulnerable offering to date. Kelleigh and Morgan discuss openness in songwriting, the song's impact on fans, and how playing the song on a whim in front of a festival crowd lead to its release.
Listen to the episode in-full anytime on-demand at apple.co/_TodaysCountry.
Morgan Evans Tells Apple Music About Deciding to Play “Over For You” for the First Time in The Moment.
I felt that since the first time that I played this song, which I did with no warning to anyone. I just sat down at the piano at this festival we played in Australia, and I was going to play a different song. I was going to play a piano version of a song called “Diamonds” that we put out a couple years ago. And I'd written this song “Over for You” the week before, and I just sat down and looked out at the crowd. It's the biggest show I've ever done in my career. We were headlining this festival. It was 22,000 people in Australia, and for some reason I felt like I needed to get it off my chest. And I sat down and played this song, and it's obviously a very heavy song, but I finished and got the guitar and the set went on, and it wasn't until afterwards I realized how much a weight had just left my shoulders after playing the song.
Morgan Evans Explains What It Was Like in the Writing Room the Day He Wrote “Over For You”.
I sat down in the room and it was the only song I'd written in two months. And I sat in the room and there was a good mate of mine in there, Geoff Warburton… He was in there and two people I'd never met, actually, Madison [Love] and Tim [Sommers]. And I just sat in the corner of the room, I was like, “Well, look, I'm going to be useless today unless I just tell you what's going on.” That's what happened. I had that title just as a songwriter in general, you're writing down titles all the time from life. But yeah, it just came about as a, “Hey, this is what's going on.”
Why He Felt Inspired to Perform “Over For You” Spur of the Moment.
I will say, that festival in particular, CMC Rocks, is not like just going to play any festival for me. I kind of grew up playing it. I played the very first one 15 years ago… At 11:00 AM on a Friday morning. And my manager at the time started the festival and his son now runs it and everyone that runs it is like family to me. And on the 15th anniversary, we were headlining. It was my first time back in Australia playing music in three years. It felt like a very safe place, even though it does seem like a big show, if that makes sense… So I think that maybe had a lot to do with it subconsciously.
Morgan Evans Tells Apple Music Who He’s Leaning on During This Season of Life
[I’m leaning on] lots of old mates, like really old mates. I have two fellas that I've been mates with since I was… One that I met in English class in the seventh grade, and one that I played music with when I was 16 in high school. And they both live in LA so I've been spending a bit of time out there hanging with them and their wives and their families and family, obviously.
Morgan Evans Tells Apple Music About Taking Care of His Mental Health During This Season of Life.
Any sort of mental health is just aspirational. Nobody's perfect at it. And I feel like as soon as you find yourself in some sort of negative spiral about anything, especially this kind of thing, the sooner you can spot it, stop the spiral… Do something. For me, it might be like go for a run or work out or just get on a plane and go to the beach or something like that if I can, if I have the time or whatever… But it's just being mindful about that kind of thing because it's inevitable it will happen, even if you're trying to avoid it. But if you can stop the spiral as soon as possible, I've found that to be the most helpful thing.
