Okay so I was originally planning to post all the notes I took at once but I realized there was a lot so I’m going to made a post for each day
Anyway, here are the notes I took during panels on the first day of the Salute to Cobra Kai convention:
Martin Kove
- “He’s not the most evil person. He’s just misunderstood” (about Kreese)
- Entire final scene between Kreese and Silver was filmed in one take
- Everything in Karate Kid 3 was originally written for John Kreese but they later came up with Terry Silver because Martin Kove was too busy to film
- There was originally an ending scene shot where there was a hand with a ring and cigar which was clearly Kreese picking up a magazine that said “What ever happened to the Business Man Terry Silver?”
- He personally believes that Kreese survived because he always manages a way to get out of things
- He never liked the scene in the parking lot with Miyagi and Kreese. He thought it was goofy and cartoonish for him to have his nose honked.
- Someone asked if Kreese killed Tory’s mom and he says he didn’t
- “I wanted to have more scenes with Amanda”
- Amanda/Courtney really slapped Martin
- He wanted to smile but the directors told him not to because it was too weird and lowkey sensual
- He joked that he killed Johnnys mom
- A kid asked “what does it feel like to act at your age” and he jokingly got up and stumbled across the stage
- “How did you survive the snake bite in the cave?” “Hollywood”. Additionally, he wishes that scene was longer so it was clearer it was a dream and he wished Kreese suffered more
- Every time Kreese would ask Hawk something in a scene, he would always come up with the right answer
- Jacob Bertrand was hitting a steak over and over in the scene where Hawk beats up Brucks
The Creators
- Cobra Kai was originally a movie idea but they realized it would work better as a show
- John Hurwitz has always been a huge fan of Billy Zabka and even made a website for him when he was younger
- They didn’t know Peyton List had the history of Disney acting and just saw her as intimidating and scary
- They said that Kreese died despite the fact that they apparently filmed a potential ending where Kreese didn’t die
- They considered having Johnny’s dad show up later in the show and see what Johnny was up to
- The house Johnny ends up buying in the end is the same house that’s in Carmen’s dream sequence
- Chozen was originally very friendly to Danny but they realized there needed to be a little rivalry between them
- Someone asked why the cops are never there and they just laughed and said it’s LA so the cops have a lot of other things to focus on
Alicia Hannah-Kim & Yuji Okumoto
- The make-out scene was fun to film
- Kim is disapproving of Chozen’s taste in reality TV taste but probably turns a blind eye because she cares about him
- Alicia took the dojo bomber jacket and Yuji took the black belt from the set
- Yuji arrived on set and Alicia ran up to him, saying “Did you read the latest script?!” and that’s how they found out about the romance arc
- Yuji joked that he wants Kumiko to ruins Danny’s marriage like she ruined Chozen
- Both of them would take Johnnys role if they had to choose any other role
- When asked which student he’d like to see Chozen bond with, he said he really liked working with Peyton, but if he chose a character, Yuji wishes he could’ve had more scenes with Hawk. He said Chozen could’ve related to Hawk’s wild side.
Ralph Macchio & Billy Zabka
- Ralph acknowledged that they brought up Miyagi so much and joked about how people would get annoyed by him constantly talking about his mentor
- If Danny had another minute with Mr. Miyagi, he would probably reiterate that that he’s the best friend Danny’s ever had
- Joked about Bert being the unsung hero and said there should be a spin off called “Bert” with him and Stingray
- Ralph said he’s Eagle Fang all the way but also Miyagi Do for life
- Billy’s favorite fight scene is the first fight scene where Johnny defends Miguel in the parking lot
- They filmed their duel in s4e5 in short increments one a really cold night (February?) and they had to go into heating vans in between takes because it was so cold
- Ralph still has the original yellow car from the original movie and whenever the car show up in the show, it’s the original car
- Ralph wishes we could’ve had Danny addressing and referencing his dad who doesn’t show up at all
One of the actresses/stunt women, Caitlin Hutson, also mentioned that underneath the platform in s6, they used a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other to cushion their falls, and it was brought up numerous times both days that they used cardboard to soften the falls
