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Biographies
![Ralph Macchio - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_ralph_macchio.jpg)
Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me
Since The Karate Kid first crane-kicked its way into the pop culture stratosphere in June 1984, there hasn't been a week Ralph Macchio hasn't heard friendly shouts of "Wax on, wax off" or "Sweep the leg!" Now, with Macchio reprising his role as Daniel LaRusso in the #1 ranked Netflix show Cobra Kai, he is finally ready to look back at this classic movie and give the fans something they've long craved.
The book will be Ralph Macchio's celebratory reflection on the legacy of The Karate Kid in film, pop culture, and his own life. It will be a comprehensive look at a film that shaped him as much as it influenced the world. Macchio will share an insider's perspective of the untold story behind his starring role-the innocence of the early days, the audition process, and the filmmaking experience--as well as take readers through the birth of some of the film's most iconic moments.
Ultimately, the book centers on the film itself, focusing on the reason that the characters and themes have endured in such a powerful way and how these personal experiences have impacted Macchio's life. It will bring readers back to the day they met Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi for the first time, but will also provide a fascinating lens into how our pasts shape all of us and how the past can come back to enrich one's life in surprising and wonderful ways.
The book will be Ralph Macchio's celebratory reflection on the legacy of The Karate Kid in film, pop culture, and his own life. It will be a comprehensive look at a film that shaped him as much as it influenced the world. Macchio will share an insider's perspective of the untold story behind his starring role-the innocence of the early days, the audition process, and the filmmaking experience--as well as take readers through the birth of some of the film's most iconic moments.
Ultimately, the book centers on the film itself, focusing on the reason that the characters and themes have endured in such a powerful way and how these personal experiences have impacted Macchio's life. It will bring readers back to the day they met Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi for the first time, but will also provide a fascinating lens into how our pasts shape all of us and how the past can come back to enrich one's life in surprising and wonderful ways.
Editorial Reviews
"[Macchio's] down-to-earth writing style suits the behind-the-scenes tales and his heartwarming meetings with fans well… Macchio's sweet, nostalgic memoir is as family-friendly and instructive as its inspiration." -Kirkus
"Macchio, star of 1984's The Karate Kid, produces another feel-good hit with this breezy reflection on his experience making the movie…Macchio writes, ‘The film is a prime example of when Hollywood gets it all right. It teaches and inspires through pure entertainment.' Fans will find this just as entertaining."-Publishers Weekly
"Waxing On is a refreshing look into a film that touched our hearts and an era that defined so many of us. Through honest and witty reflection, the reader is plunged back into the unforgettable world of The Karate Kid, and the magic that happens when Hollywood is on point. Macchio shares his unique perspective with humor and humility as well as with surprising relatability. I was a fan before, but now I feel like a friend." -Brooke Shields, New York Times bestselling author of There Was a Little Girl
"I love my fellow "Greaser', Ralph. But if I'm being completely honest, I've never gotten over the existential pain of The Karate Kid's ongoing success and relevance. What does that movie have that Youngblood doesn't?! Well, after reading Ralph's fun and insightful recounting, I now totally get it. Long live The Karate Kid!" -Rob Lowe, New York Times bestselling author of Stories I Only Tell My Friends
"A breezy read that disproves the clanky, "Nice guys finish last,' cliche, but re-defines it as, 'Nice guys LAST.' This memoir will put you in the BEST mood, I promise." -Patton Oswalt, New York Times bestselling author of Silver Screen Fiend
"Macchio, star of 1984's The Karate Kid, produces another feel-good hit with this breezy reflection on his experience making the movie…Macchio writes, ‘The film is a prime example of when Hollywood gets it all right. It teaches and inspires through pure entertainment.' Fans will find this just as entertaining."-Publishers Weekly
"Waxing On is a refreshing look into a film that touched our hearts and an era that defined so many of us. Through honest and witty reflection, the reader is plunged back into the unforgettable world of The Karate Kid, and the magic that happens when Hollywood is on point. Macchio shares his unique perspective with humor and humility as well as with surprising relatability. I was a fan before, but now I feel like a friend." -Brooke Shields, New York Times bestselling author of There Was a Little Girl
"I love my fellow "Greaser', Ralph. But if I'm being completely honest, I've never gotten over the existential pain of The Karate Kid's ongoing success and relevance. What does that movie have that Youngblood doesn't?! Well, after reading Ralph's fun and insightful recounting, I now totally get it. Long live The Karate Kid!" -Rob Lowe, New York Times bestselling author of Stories I Only Tell My Friends
"A breezy read that disproves the clanky, "Nice guys finish last,' cliche, but re-defines it as, 'Nice guys LAST.' This memoir will put you in the BEST mood, I promise." -Patton Oswalt, New York Times bestselling author of Silver Screen Fiend
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter One
Becoming the Kid
It was late spring 1983. The Outsiders, my first major film, based on the classic S. E. Hinton novel, was finishing up a fairly successful run at movie theaters, and the notices for my performance as Johnny Cade were pretty solid. Still, to this day, it's one of my favorite roles on film. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featured a cast that rivals any as far as launching big careers, including those of Cruise, Swayze, Lane, Lowe, and Dillon, to name a few. So, I was feeling pretty confident that things might be lining up in a good way for me as well. I was back home in New York on Long Island in the house where I grew up. My beloved New York Islanders were poised to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup championship, I was listening to Springsteen's The River album on a loop, and summer was right around the corner. I wondered what would be next.
It had been a few years since I was back in my old room full-time. A poster of Scorsese's Raging Bull still lived above my bed. A framed collage of Gene Kelly was a focal point too. I wanted to be as cool and smooth as him when I was a little kid-an early influence from watching MGM movie musicals with my mom. I even took tap-dance lessons for a while in between Little League baseball games and working with my dad on Saturdays. My mom and I would often watch the four-thirty movie on WPIX, channel 11, after I got home from school. I was probably around six or seven years old when my love affair with movies and storytelling was born. My younger brother had taken more organically to the family laundromat and pump-truck businesses at that time. My mind was elsewhere, inside my imagination. In my early teens, between school plays and dance recitals, I would audition for commercials here and there. By the time I graduated high school I had landed two Bubble Yum spots and my first film role, in a movie titled Up the Academy. From there, I wanted to emulate my acting heroes. Brando, Pacino, De Niro, and a few New York Mets bobbleheads still peppered the bookshelves of my room. Springsteen and Billy Joel albums finished off the dŽcor over yesteryear's shag carpet, which still covered the hardwood floor. This was where I had grown up. This was where I had daydreamed that I could "make it."
After Up the Academy, I lived in Los Angeles for two years coming off my one-season stint on ABC's Eight Is Enough. I was nineteen at that point. I stayed in California for the second year to further my craft, focusing on acting classes and auditions in between teen magazine shoots, before Coppola awarded me a role as one of the "greasers" in his newest film. This was a huge break for me. A big win and step up in Hollywood street cred. And so, it was on that day that I made the decision to move back to New York after filming of The Outsiders was complete. I missed the East Coast energy and was eager to experience The Outsiders' release from home. Plus, New York City was only a train ride away, and this proved to be the right move for what was about to happen.
So there I was, sitting in my room on a faux-leather beanbag chair, probably with Martha Quinn in the background introducing a music video on my nineteen-inch Panasonic television, when the phone rang. I excitedly received the information about an upcoming audition for the starring role in a new Columbia Pictures movie. Okay, that's cool.
I found out they were making a film based on a newspaper article about a kid who was picked on and how martial arts helped him confront his bullies. Sounds intriguing.
It was being directed by the guy who made Rocky. First the Godfather director and now the Rocky director. This is feeling really good now!
The character's name was Danny Webber. Hmmm, okay, I guess I could be a Webber.
And the title of the script they were sending me was:
The-Karate-Kid
What? Seriously? Was this a cartoon? An after-school special? All I kept thinking was, What a silly, lame-ass title. It must be a placeholder. Gotta be a working title, right? Okay, one thing at a time. They were sending the script my way, and I would read it with an open mind over the weekend in preparation for my audition.
Here's what I remember about my first reading of Robert Mark Kamen's now classic screenplay. I recall connecting to the father-and-son elements and heart in the story right off the bat, even though I knew virtually nothing about Japanese culture. I didn't know what a bonsai tree was either, so that part was confusing. I found some of the high school story line characters a bit corny and stereotyped. As far as the fight scenes, it's always very difficult to grasp action sequences on the page, but I did feel they were unique and that the u...
Becoming the Kid
It was late spring 1983. The Outsiders, my first major film, based on the classic S. E. Hinton novel, was finishing up a fairly successful run at movie theaters, and the notices for my performance as Johnny Cade were pretty solid. Still, to this day, it's one of my favorite roles on film. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featured a cast that rivals any as far as launching big careers, including those of Cruise, Swayze, Lane, Lowe, and Dillon, to name a few. So, I was feeling pretty confident that things might be lining up in a good way for me as well. I was back home in New York on Long Island in the house where I grew up. My beloved New York Islanders were poised to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup championship, I was listening to Springsteen's The River album on a loop, and summer was right around the corner. I wondered what would be next.
It had been a few years since I was back in my old room full-time. A poster of Scorsese's Raging Bull still lived above my bed. A framed collage of Gene Kelly was a focal point too. I wanted to be as cool and smooth as him when I was a little kid-an early influence from watching MGM movie musicals with my mom. I even took tap-dance lessons for a while in between Little League baseball games and working with my dad on Saturdays. My mom and I would often watch the four-thirty movie on WPIX, channel 11, after I got home from school. I was probably around six or seven years old when my love affair with movies and storytelling was born. My younger brother had taken more organically to the family laundromat and pump-truck businesses at that time. My mind was elsewhere, inside my imagination. In my early teens, between school plays and dance recitals, I would audition for commercials here and there. By the time I graduated high school I had landed two Bubble Yum spots and my first film role, in a movie titled Up the Academy. From there, I wanted to emulate my acting heroes. Brando, Pacino, De Niro, and a few New York Mets bobbleheads still peppered the bookshelves of my room. Springsteen and Billy Joel albums finished off the dŽcor over yesteryear's shag carpet, which still covered the hardwood floor. This was where I had grown up. This was where I had daydreamed that I could "make it."
After Up the Academy, I lived in Los Angeles for two years coming off my one-season stint on ABC's Eight Is Enough. I was nineteen at that point. I stayed in California for the second year to further my craft, focusing on acting classes and auditions in between teen magazine shoots, before Coppola awarded me a role as one of the "greasers" in his newest film. This was a huge break for me. A big win and step up in Hollywood street cred. And so, it was on that day that I made the decision to move back to New York after filming of The Outsiders was complete. I missed the East Coast energy and was eager to experience The Outsiders' release from home. Plus, New York City was only a train ride away, and this proved to be the right move for what was about to happen.
So there I was, sitting in my room on a faux-leather beanbag chair, probably with Martha Quinn in the background introducing a music video on my nineteen-inch Panasonic television, when the phone rang. I excitedly received the information about an upcoming audition for the starring role in a new Columbia Pictures movie. Okay, that's cool.
I found out they were making a film based on a newspaper article about a kid who was picked on and how martial arts helped him confront his bullies. Sounds intriguing.
It was being directed by the guy who made Rocky. First the Godfather director and now the Rocky director. This is feeling really good now!
The character's name was Danny Webber. Hmmm, okay, I guess I could be a Webber.
And the title of the script they were sending me was:
The-Karate-Kid
What? Seriously? Was this a cartoon? An after-school special? All I kept thinking was, What a silly, lame-ass title. It must be a placeholder. Gotta be a working title, right? Okay, one thing at a time. They were sending the script my way, and I would read it with an open mind over the weekend in preparation for my audition.
Here's what I remember about my first reading of Robert Mark Kamen's now classic screenplay. I recall connecting to the father-and-son elements and heart in the story right off the bat, even though I knew virtually nothing about Japanese culture. I didn't know what a bonsai tree was either, so that part was confusing. I found some of the high school story line characters a bit corny and stereotyped. As far as the fight scenes, it's always very difficult to grasp action sequences on the page, but I did feel they were unique and that the u...
