Robert Kamen wanted that moment and we rehearsed it for weeks. That now legendary “sweep the leg” scene only works because of the look of horror in Johnny’s eyes - you realize that Johnny, instead of just an entitled jerk, is also a very scared kid. They can’t see Johnny as the villain anymore.
I’ve heard many people say “How I Met Your Mother” ruins “The Karate Kid” for them. But I wouldn’t have minded either.Īnd rewatching “The Karate Kid,” I felt a lot more sympathy for your character, particularly near the movie’s end when we realize whom the real villain is. They could have driven me off a cliff, I wouldn’t have known. Even when they decided to have me on the rest of the season I had no idea where my character was going script to script. And initially I was supposed to appear in clown makeup, Barney would recognize me as Billy Zabka and that would be the gig. When (“HIMYM” co-creator) Craig Thomas first got in touch with me, he just said he had a dream that Barney thought I was the real Karate Kid. I thought: How the hell am I sitting in this seat? The first table read I showed up for there were cards which each actor’s name and their character, Neil Patrick Harris, Barney Stinson Allyson Hannigan, Lilly. But knowing that he had done it too - I know he appreciated the challenges. Neil Patrick Harris went through a similar process of self-satire with “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.” Did you guys ever talk about this while you worked together? He was probably drunk off his butt when it happened but that was part of why he got stuck in this job, kind of a negative carbon copy of Johnny Lawrence and where guys like him end up, behind a desk, remembering too much who they used to be, bitter and angry about it. I played coach Derek Bagg (D Bagg for short), who used to be a star athlete but then had a Horrible ATV accident and now was stuck coaching third-graders. But your guest-starring spot in “Psych” this past season was a kind of ironic backhand to that idea. I still wouldn’t call it easy but has been a comfortable place for me.Ī lot of your characters are athletically inclined. Which makes it easy for me an actor to be in the moment right away. There’s always a little bit of an advantage with satire in that you aren’t building the character from scratch. “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Psych” and “How I Met Your Mother” were just shows with great writing, great people. I get offered a fair amount of “make fun of Johnny” roles and I only take a few. The first part of preparation comes in choosing selectively. When I was asked to play a washed-up version of Johnny Lawrence in “No More Kings”’s “Sweep the Leg” music video in 2007, the only way I’d agree was if I could write, direct it and control the story myself. Looking at your roles in “Psych” and “How I Met Your Mother,” how do you prepare for a part that satirizes an earlier version of yourself?Īs an actor, you’re always trying to outrun your shadow. Salon spoke to Zabka about his 2004 Oscar nod, the long shadow of "The Karate Kid," and the challenges of playing a former version of himself.
HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE BURN THIS MOTHER DOWN SERIES
Zabka has built a side career on satirizing the villain he brought to life: Parts in “Hot Tub Time Machine” and the TV series “Psych” and “How I Met Your Mother” have Zabka transforming former BMOC Johnny into a hilarious also-ran, a sly commentary on the silliness of the Reagan-era success he embodied. “The Karate Kid” just turned 30 years old for three decades, we’ve been rooting for Daniel LaRusso and against Daniel’s nemesis Johnny Lawrence, the SoCal Golden Bully played so memorably by William “Billy” Zabka in his film debut.
0 kommentar(er)
