I am not going to write an introduction on actor Martin Kove because if you don’t know who he is, someone needs to sweep your leg! No joke. I gotta admit; the guy has a pretty good sense of humor because I really broke his balls in the interview below. But he answered all of my questions, put on a smile, and gave me some time to harass him with a collection of retarded questions. I cut into his lunch too! But he was pretty cool. He even taught me a few things such as:
The Dead Sleep Easy – a new movie you did about a Mexican Wrestler who gets in trouble with the Mob while smuggling illegals across the border. Care to elaborate?
Well, it’s a picture we shot in Guadalajara. Any movie I can go to Mexico for I go cause I keep thinking I am doing The Wild Bunch! I just went there, had a great time, and they treated me like a king. I created this character which wasn’t written of a guy who wanted to be a director, but was a killer. Everytime he killed someone he films it and it turned out to be this very interesting character. It was produced by Rob Menzies from Ottawa and directed by Lee Demarbre. They were very gracious and a terrific group to work with.
John Kreese is a character that is hated by so many Karate Kid fans. I always thought you ruled. You were way tougher than that herb with the pony tail in part three. How does it feel to have basically played the Biff Tannen or Darth Vader of Martial Arts movies?
Well, it’s very flattering because a lot of people do refer me to the Darth Vader of the karate world. No one ever expected that movie to be the morality that it became! In the latest DVD, Pat Johnson who was the stunt coordinator and Chuck Norris’s partner in tournament fighting gives this movie a gift. He gave the martial arts world a gift because it’s such a wonderful morality play. That’s why it’s still so popular right now. When I did the commentary, the interesting thing the director said to me was the light of that movie could not have been as bright as it was, the light meaning Miyagi and Ralph, unless my darkness and being was so dark. I was the darkness. And was interesting cause you kind of get tired of playing bad guys, especially in that movie I was doing a TV series at the time it was just another heavy to me. I didn’t even like the title!
Now you are really a black belt right? What styles?
My foundation was in Kendo which is sword fighting. And I have a horary black belt in Okinawa tai as well as Tiger kempo.
In real life do you think you could have taken Mr. Miyagi down?
Those are the guys you gotta watch out for! Those are the cats that are so… John Kreese used Karate as an offensive sport while Miyagi used it as a defensive art. Those are the guys that look unassuming yet they know pressure points.
Yea my father is like that, little guy but with a finger can paralyze you.
Yes, he easily in life could have been one you don’t want to mess with! Even if you had great spinning crescent kicks and you’re doing all these marvelous kata’s… He is the type of character that could touch you in a specific place and (snaps fingers) you’re out! So – No! I don’t necessarily think I could have!
Some friends and I were trying to get our hands on some skeleton costumes for Halloween a few years back. We wanted to crash people’s parties, drink all their booze, eat all their food, and leave. We were even going to build a shower and send a guy to run through the house banging stuff up. We decided since we are in our thirties it wasn’t a good idea to do. Pretend we are Johnny and the gang, what kind of advise would you have given us if you knew we were going to do that?
Well I would have said…. Remember what we always said about The Last House on the Left… It’s Only a Movie!!
You starred as a detective in an episode of Tales from the Crypt Season 5 called Half-Way Horrible. It was sort of a voodoo take on The Re-Animator. Would you eat fruit that was preserved with that purple stuff if it was real?
If it had to do with my longevity and I would start to go the opposite route, I might!
We all know John Rambo was supposed to just take photos when he went back to Vietnam in First Blood Part II. You really can’t blame a guy for doing the right thing and turning it into a rescue mission. Were you pissed at Murdock for making you and Banks leave him behind?
Yea, I really was. I wanted to go down and that’s why he is always in question on what he should do. He wasn’t just cut and dry, he was a mercenary. I really would have liked to have gone down and picked him up instead of aborting the mission.
So you didn’t feel that John Rambo was expendable? Be honest here…..
No I didn’t! Remember there was a back story that never came out in the movie. It was that he and I worked together in Vietnam. Then I turned mercenary and he became a member of society in the original First Blood.
You also played Nero the Hero in Death Race 2000, one of my favorite movies ever. I heard Corman pulled back the reigns a bit on that one because the original script was so brutal. But recently I heard talk of a remake starring Jason Statham (The Transporter) in pre production, how do you feel about that?
Yea I read that too in Variety. I think that movie could be interesting. I am not really into those kinds of movies, hitting people with baby carriages and getting points. It was not my cup of tea. But they might handle it a little differently with special effects and new people being creative.
I love cheap beer and have drank my share of King Cobra as a kid. I read somewhere you were a spokesman for King Cobra, how did you land that? Was it because you owned Cobra Kai?
No, this is the spokesman for King Cobra. (He then pulls Fred The Hammer Williamson into the interview and Fred is laughing!) No I just went there because I wanted to do the commercial and that they paid me a lot of money! No, the spokesman is Fred Williamson, he is the only spokesman, he kicked my ass in the commercial! He and I did it, I remember getting paid $35,000 for one day. The best part about it is Fred gave me this black satin jacket that I still have! It’s my favorite jacket!
Fred Williamson: That’s one hell of a jacket, haha.
I have a lot of black movie jackets, but this one he gave me with the malt liquor on the back. It’s cool!
So give me some scoop on your latest movie called Bare Knuckles!
Ok, well Jeanette Roxborough who is with me right now is starring in it. (She smiles, laughs, and says hi.) Its very exciting and sort of like Million Dollar Baby. It’s an autobiographical story about an actress who works in stunt work and is not making enough money. So she takes up bare knuckle fighting and she has a daughter who’s deaf.....
Hahaha Sorry….
She finds that fighting money is easier to acquire than working in a bar or as an actress. It’s a very touching story and I am playing the “Eastwood” role which also has a love affair in there unlike Million Dollar Baby. It’s a charming story and good for me because it’s vulnerable. Jeanette is from Toronto and she is the leading lady. When does production start? We start shooting June 12th and the movie should be ready to go by the first of the year. It’s a really good festival movie. Another actor potentially in it is Costas Mandylor (From Saw II and III) and a variety of wonderful actresses and stunt women with backgrounds in all the Mel Gibson movies. It’s a first class production. It’s going to be directed by Eric Etebari (2 Fast 2 Furious), he put the whole project together.
Anything else you want to add?
Check out Bare Knuckles!
Yes Sensei!
This video is so simple but makes me laugh every time! More proof that Terry Silver was a total blowjob in Part III
