Cobra Kai Stunt Team On How They Work With Actors Without Martial Arts Skills
The Cobra Kai stunt team has explained how they make their stunts and fight scenes come to life while working with actors with varying martial arts skills. Cobra Kai is a Netflix original series that premiered on May 2, 2018, originally airing on Youtube's streaming service before landing a new home at Netflix. The series is a spin-off of The Karate Kid and follows Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) 34-years after the events of the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament. Cobra Kai explores what happens when Lawrence attempts to bring back Cobra Kai by opening his own dojo and is soon met with resistance from LaRusso's dojo, Miyagi-Do.
Cobra Kai has many traces of the Karate Kid films' sentiments with its emphasis on karate, feuds, love triangles, and classic cars. However, the series also departs from the franchise in many ways, one being that it explores a bit darker territory as it delves into decades-long feuds and desire for vengeance. The Cobra Kai fights are notably more violent than those in Karate Kid for this reason. With uncontrolled school fights, tournament matches, and targeted attacks, the stunts and fights are vital to Cobra Kai's success.
Related: Cobra Kai: Why Hawk Joined Miyagi-Do Instead of Eagle Fang
In an interview with Backstage, Cobra Kai's stunt coordinator Ken Barefield and fight coordinator Don Lee opened up about how they make the stunts happen while working with actors of varying martial arts skills. When it comes to bringing the stunts and fights to life, it is important to focus on the actors' strengths. Lee explained that they only get a few takes to get it right, so if an actor can't perform a move 10 out of 10 times, it usually gets scrapped. Lee and Barefield
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