Trivia / The Karate Kid Part III

• Actor-Inspired Element: In the original script Daniel's mother was never mentioned or seen in the movie. It was Ralph Macchio's idea they have a scene of Daniel having a telephone conversation with his mother explaining that she went to New Jersey to take care of a sick uncle, thereby justifying her total absence.
• Alternate DVD Commentary: Notably, it's the only film in the series so far to be given the Rifftrax treatment.
• The Cast Showoff: Sean Kanan was a green belt in karate at the time. Thomas Griffith got his black belt in Taekwondo at 18.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Robert Mark Kamen, who wrote this and the first two films, was so angry at the final product, that he refused any involvement whatsoever with The Next Karate Kid.
  • John G. Avildsen revealed in a 2015 Q&A that he considered Part III a poor imitation of the first one and a horrible movie altogether. Ralph Macchio himself also expressed disappointment in the film, describing it as a cheap knock-off of the 1984 classic that contributed little to the character of Daniel LaRusso.
• Dawson Casting: Ralph Macchio was 27 years old at the time, and while he looked young for his age in the first film, he was finally showing his age in some scenes.
• No Stunt Double: Sean Kanan performed his own stunts, including one wherein he lunged forward and landed on his stomach for 20 takes. After taking aspirin for four days to deal with the residual pain, Kanan fell unconscious. At a hospital, he was diagnosed with internal bleeding caused by a torn abdominal wall.
• On-Set Injury: Sean Kanan suffered internal bleeding after doing 20 takes of being thrown out a door and landing on his stomach. He collapsed at a Las Vegas hotel four days after shooting the scene and was discovered to have two quarts of blood pooled in his abdomen.
• The Other Darrin: In the Brazilian dub, all the returning have new voices compared to the first two films: Selton Mello replaces Cleonir dos Santos as Daniel, Garcia Neto replaces Magalhães Graça as Mr. Miyagi and Dário de Castro replaces Marcos Miranda as Kreese. Interestingly, Marisa Leal, who voiced Ali in the first film, returns as Daniel's new (apparent) love interest, Jessica Andrews.
• Promoted Fanboy: Sean Kanan had been a fan of the franchise for years before being cast, having seen the first two films ten times each before learning of the plans for a second sequel.
• Throw It In!: According to a recent interview that Thomas Ian Griffith conducted after the release of Cobra Kai Season 5, the mocking Funny Bruce Lee Noises that he did as Terry Silver in Part III was not in the script. You could even see the ghost of a smirk from Thomas when he saw Pat Morita (as Mr. Miyagi) do his own improvised Bruce Lee sounds back at him (as Terry Silver) after his defeat.
• Underage Casting:
  • Terry Silver is supposed to have fought in Vietnam with John Kreese, so he has to be in his early 40s in 1985 (compounded by how old he looks in flashbacks in Cobra Kai), but Thomas Ian Griffith is four months younger than Ralph Macchio, who was 27 while playing 17-year old Daniel.
  • Also Joseph V. Perry, who appears in one scene as Daniel's 70-year-old uncle Louie, but was only 54 during the filming.
• Wag the Director: Daniel was supposed to have a romantic relationship with Jessica, but Ralph Macchio asked to have their relationship be platonic because he didn't want his wife Phyllis Fierro to be jealous and he wasn't comfortable with the considerable age gap between Robyn Lively and himself (11 years, meaning Lively was underage at the time).
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kreese was planned to play a larger role in the film. Due to Martin Kove's scheduling conflicts at the time of filming, however, Thomas Ian Griffith (Silver) filled in for him instead.
  • Test footage had Jonathan Avildsen play Mike Barnes with a different personality where he wants to uphold a family tradition where all his brothers became All Valley Champions by defeating the defending champion, and wants Daniel to enter so that he can become the champion the "right way". The footage can be seen in this link while the final cut had Avildsen play Snake instead.
  • An early pitch for the film had it being a time-travel adventure with Miyagi and Daniel traveling back in time and meeting Miyagi's ancestor who brought Karate to Okinawa. The film would have had high-flying acrobatic fight scenes similar to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as well as other supernatural elements. The film also would have also had Daniel and Miyagi joined by a new female student of Miyagi's. This film never made it past the drawing board stages, although the idea of giving Miyagi a female student was later used in The Next Karate Kid, and he's later established in Cobra Kai to have taught Daniel's daughter Sam karate in her childhood.

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