Sensei kreese12/13/2023 He does many of his own stunts, and has the physique of a much younger man. Learning the choreography for one of his show’s fight scenes can require as long as a month of training and rehearsal. He holds a black belt in Okinawan martial arts and works out with a trainer three times a week (and presumably resists the urge to sweep the leg). Like his character, Kove knows his way around a dojo. And I like stories where the characters are gray.” “The movies were black-and-white, good guys and bad guys,” Kove says. Kove is happy to add layers and dimension to the role. Vietnam veteran, the series expands upon that detail, while also depicting him suffering from homelessness. Kove leapt at the chance to revisit the character of Kreese, and hoped the TV series would offer the opportunity to add layers to the monochromatic portrait he’d painted in the films and it did: While the movies mentioned Kreese’s background as a Eventually we ended up getting some CAOs and La Gloria Cubanas.” So I brought in cigars, a cutter, a lighter. I thought, Hey, this is my entrance-I have to use one of my own. “Then the prop guys got these cheap cigars that gave me a headache. “I hate to cut up a good cigar,” Kove says. Doing more than one take meant chopping up multiple cigars so their lengths would match from shot to shot. Kove was excited to get back into his black gi, but he disliked all the cigar dissection needed to play the character. Of course, their paths cross in karate conflict once again. LaRusso has prospered, becoming a rich and famous local businessman, while Lawrence has struggled, moving from one dead-end job to the next, wallowing in too many domestic beers and plenty of ’80s music. Zabka, Macchio and Kove, who first faced off in the 1984 hit, play modern-day versions of the characters from the Karate Kid films. Their characters want to return the Cobra Kai dojo to dominance over rival Miyagi-Do, run by Johnny’s long-ago opponent, Daniel LaRusso (Macchio). “It became part of the character.” That moment comes at the end of the final episode of Season 1, a cliffhanger teasing the second season, in which Kreese returns to help former protégé Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). “The writers had me coming out of the shadows in that first scene, smoking a cigar,” Kove says. Kove’s dramatic first entrance in “Cobra Kai” features a cigar firmly planted in his jaw. Suddenly, Kove has a renewed measure of Hollywood heat, thanks to a role that includes a cigar. I just mooch.” Says Kove of his friend, “He’ll smoke anything.” Cigars are definitely part of it when we get together. I ask him questions about cigars-it’s like learning about tasting wine or Scotch.” As actor Bruce Boxleitner, a longtime pal and cigar-smoking buddy, notes: “Marty’s a very avid cigar aficionado. He loves cigars and loves talking about them. “You’ll find him outside the restaurant, on a bench, smoking his cigar. “Martin is synonymous with cigars,” Macchio says. Macchio, now 59, has enjoyed his share of cigars with Kove, and gives Kove full credit for whatever cigar knowledge he’s acquired. Kove’s love of cigars is legendary among his friends and colleagues: “He’s my cigar sensei,” says Ralph Macchio, whose character is at odds with Kove in “Cobra Kai.” But then Kove has been a good-will ambassador and a fount of knowledge about the history and traditions of cigars since the 1970s. It was the best day of smoking cigars ever.” I like cigars with more body, and yet this was perfect. “The Romeo y Julieta is usually a little mild for me. It was the most eventful day of cigar smoking in my life,” he says during a virtual interview. The manager of the hotel served us coffee personally. “I was smoking a Wide Churchill by Romeo y Julieta with my son, taking in this view of Havana. He was with his son Jesse in an outdoor lounge atop Havana’s Hotel Parque Central in January 2020, pre-pandemic, with a sweeping view of the city, pursuing his longtime love for fine tobacco products. Kove takes a puff of the Bolivar and tells the story of his most memorable cigar. Netflix claims more than 50 million accounts viewed the second season of the show, making it one of the network’s more popular programs. The show, currently streaming its third season on Netflix, revived steely martial-arts master John Kreese, the character from The Karate Kid and its Reagan-era sequels whose catchphrases (“No mercy!” “Sweep the leg!”) put Kove on the map more than 35 years ago, and back in the spotlight today. The 74-year-old is riding a late-career updraft, thanks to the international popularity of the surprising smash TV series “Cobra Kai.” The broad, craggy smile, the physical confidence and, of course, the Cuban cigar-actor Martin Kove is clearly having a moment. He materializes on the screen like the Ghost of Cigars Past, his torch caressing the end of a Bolivar Belicoso Fino.
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