The American actor, Will Smith, was in Tokyo recently to promote his new movie.
It’s always fun to watch his interviews when he comes to Japan. Unlike most Hollywood celebreties, Will Smith behaves in a way that fits in here. Not to say that other actors from overseas carry themselves wrong…but Will Smith remembers the names and interests of the Japanese celebreties that he has met here and always acts pleased to see them. He even treats his interpretor that way.
And he’s quite funny in his interviews.
I was surprised to learn, though, that Will Smith‘s son, Jaden, will co-star in a remake of the classic 1984 movie 「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid)!
Karate Kid Japanese movie flyer
“The Karate Kid” is called 「ベスト・キッド」 (Best Kid) in Japan, by the way.
More surprising than the news that 「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid) is being remade and that Will Smith‘s son will play the part that Ralph Macchio played in the original is the news that popular Hong-Kong actor Jackie Chan will play the part of “Mr. Miyagi“, made famous by Noriyuki “Pat” MoritaI*…and that filming for the movie will take place in 北京 (Beijing, China)!
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita as "Mr. Miyagi".
*(Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, June 1932 – November 2005, RIP).
空手 (Karate) is Japanese, 宮城さん (Mr. Miyagi) is a Japanese name…so, no disrespect to Jackie Chan, but why would they choose a Chinese actor and a Chinese city for this movie?
Noriyuki “Pat” Morita was great in the 「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid) movies! The way he watched Daniel-san get into trouble and help him without Daniel even realizing it was quite Japanese. Do you remember the scene when Daniel trashed his broken bicycle in a fit…and the next day found it repaired anonymously? And, of course, “Wax on, wax off“!
It’s a great movie! I’m not sure if a remake will do it justice.
————————update 2010 January 29———————————–
It’s seems that the new The Karate Kid movie will be in theaters in America on 2010 June 11 (no word yet of the Japan release date).
It seems that this movie was going to be titled “The Kung Fu Kid“…but I guess they decided to stick with name-recognition and call it “The Karate Kid” even though it takes place in China and the boy learns Kung-Fu.
The explanation for the title is that the boy had learned a bit of karate in America…but it does him no good in China. So he needs to learn Kung-Fu (from Jackie Chan’s character).
I watched the official trailer. I noticed many differences between the Japanese style teacher-student relationship and the Chinese style.
Instead of a remake of The Karate Kid in China…I think they should have made a movie version of the old American TV show “Kung Fu” that starred David Carradine.
Anyways here’s the official trailer for the upcoming 2010 version of “The Karate Kid“:
Tokyo Five 
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