Ralph Macchio hits back at comments The Karate Kid had ‘a very white cast’

Ralph did not hold back

Ralph Macchio has hit back at criticism that The Karate Kid was "too white". The actor, 60, who starred in the 1984 film alongside Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita, says that the movie was progressive for the era. "People have said it's a very white cast; that it didn't dive into the Asian story" the American star told this week's issue of Stellar Magazine. "But I always say this: [for 1984] the film was ahead of its time because it was a popcorn movie that talked about Japanese internment camps during WW2." [caption id="attachment_364603" align="alignnone" width="554"] The Karate Kid franchise (Picture: Getty Images)[/caption] Ralph went on to explain that the subject matter was very close to his co-star, the late Morita, who was born in California to Japanese immigrant parents. "Pat always said the scene [in which it's revealed Mr Miyagi lost his wife and child in the camps] earned him his Oscar nomination" he said. "Pat himself spent two years in the camps. So it had double meaning and some depth." Ralph opened up about his experiences in his new memoir Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me, which was released Tuesday, and said he was never told about two major projects linked with the franchise, 1994's The Next Karate Kid and the 2010 remake The Karate Kid. Macchio played the role of Daniel LaRusso in 1984's The Karate Kid and its two sequels, 1986's The Karate Kid Part II and 1989's The Karate Kid Part III. He said he learned about the 1994 film, titled The Next Karate Kid, via the newspaper. "That is how I learned [the film] was being made... I saw it in the newspaper," Macchio said. "They went with a different writer, a different director and a different actor for the protagonist." In the reports, producer Jerry Weintraub said that Macchio had grown 'too old' to play the role, as Hilary Swank was cast in the leading role of Julie Pierce alongside the late Pat Morita, who reprised his role as Mr. Miyagi in the motion picture. The Emmy-nominated actor said of the film - which hit theaters in August of 1994 and grossed $15.8 million at the worldwide box office - 'To this day, for whatever reason, I have not viewed that movie curtain-to-curtain. "I have only seen it in pieces when scrolling through movie channels on television. It was strange for me, as I wasn't in contact with anyone from the franchise during those years." Related links:

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