Billy Zabka over Cobra Kai

RDJ134 27 juni 2019 om 01:19 uur

Billy Zabka schitterd op dit moment als Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai en heeft ondertussen een grote groep nieuwe en oude fans, plus een jaren tachtig cult status. Daarom had de website Uproxx een interview met hem en daar van kan je nu hier onder een klein stukje lezen.


Since this seems like one of those frequently-asked Billy Zabka questions, what are some of the things that you were doing between your years of '80s and '90s movie fame and your current run on Cobra Kai?

Well, I did tons of independent films. I did a lot of guest spots on shows, but primarily, I was doing behind-the-scenes stuff. I went to college before I even got The Karate Kid. I wanted to be a filmmaker. My first love has always been behind the camera. I did a short film that I produced and wrote. I lived in Europe for a while. That film premiered at Sundance, and I took it on a tour around the country, and we ended up getting nominated for an Academy Award for it. And then I went on to direct music videos. I did a couple of big Rascal Flatts videos that were nominated for video of the year. I did two documentaries that I produced and edited. I'm also an editor. So I did a little bit of everything.

I think there are certain times you get lucky in something that is popular and everybody knows you from, and the rest is obscure. I don't expect everybody to track my career and know where I've been. But it's a common question, like, “Hey, man, it's been 30 years. What have you been doing, man? How have you been eating?” It's a fair question, but I do many things. I write, produce, direct, edit. I've always had a hand in one aspect or another, and I've been equally content and happy. It's been nice to be off the grid a little, to be honest. I'm back out there again, and that's a whole new thing. It's a new day and it's super exciting. And I'm well equipped for it, because in the '80s, I was 18, and now… I'm 27 (laughs). (According to Wikipedia, Zabka is 53. I didn't ask for ID.)

Another thing that I did in the middle of all that is I went, and this is funny, because last night, we had a great music concert to honor the music of Cobra Kai, with the two composers of the show, and so I lived the dream last night, and I got to go play at The Whiskey last night, one of the songs, which is the theme song of Cobra Kai for the Johnny Lawrence story. In between my acting and filmmaking, I also went to music school. I'm a guitar player.

What was happening in your life when you first got that part as Johnny Lawrence in Karate Kid?

I had just graduated high school, and I was going to film school at Cal State Northridge. I was in my first semester of school, and I started going on auditions for Karate Kid. About halfway through my first semester, I booked the job. So I got pulled out of film school and thrown into a film. Ironically, the ending tournament scene, where we did the final fight, happened to shoot at Cal State Northridge in their gym. So I went to college as a student and came back by the end of the semester as one of the stars of Karate Kid. Go figure.

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