'American Born Chinese' Actor Ben Wang Cast As Lead In Franchise-Uniting 'Karate Kid' Movie
The martial arts franchise is returning to the big screen with Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, heading for a spring shoot and still a December release
Cast on, blast off. With just about ten months until its current December 13 release date, Sony’s next film in the Karate Kid franchise has closed its global casting call. They have cast Ben Wang, who starred as Jin Wang in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese.
Within a day of the casting call, a video featuring franchise stars Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, going out, the studio received more than 10,000 submissions from countries including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Australia, Singapore, Finland, Sweden and South Africa. Studio insiders say Wang’s audition was standout by demonstrating deep connection to the character, along with his fluency in Mandarin and wide array of martial arts skills, including karate, wing chun/kung fu, gumdo, kempo and taekwondo. Those skills he already gave an onscreen showcase on American Born Chinese, the recently-canceled single-season adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s acclaimed coming-of-age fantasy graphic novel incorporating the legends of Chinese gods that also starred Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan in their first project together since Everything Everywhere All At Once. It seems that all that was missing was gymnastics and dance, but those were just bonuses in the search.
While a full plot is still unknown, unless the character’s name has changed, Wang will be playing Li Fong, a Chinese teen who moves to the United States East Coast, nearly a reverse of the Jaden Smith film, finds strength and direction through martial arts and a tough but wise mentor. The film is written by Rob Lieber, whose credits include Sony’s Peter Rabbit and Disney’s 2014 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day. It is directed by Jonathan Entwistle, the man whose past work includes I’m Not Okay with This and The End of the F***ing World and, it should be reiterated, is supposed to be shepherding the new phase of the Power Rangers franchise.
The film was originally reported to be a reboot, but while plot details are still unrevealed, at the very least instead unifies Chan’s 2010 version he starred in as Mr. Han with Smith as his student Dre Parker with that of the series starring Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, where until this film was announced, the former was believed be a remake of the latter. Macchio’s original film put LaRusso under the tutelage of Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi for three films, before the franchise went on without him briefly, bringing Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce in for a fourth film The Next Karate Kid. The franchise was resuscitated by the YouTube Red-turned-Netflix series Cobra Kai, where Macchio stars with William Zabka who reprises as Johnny Lawrence.
If the film keeps its December 13 release date, it will open alongside The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, running up against the releases of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King the following week.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter