“I didn’t really think there were that many people out there who were interested in Mr. Miyagi,” Kevin Derek says. “But (it turns out) millions and millions of people are.”
Derek is a martial artist, producer, and documentarian, whose latest documentary, More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story, seeks to humanize the man behind some of pop culture’s most mythical characters. The timing for such a doc couldn’t have been better, but it turns out that was simply good fortune.
“We started shooting this back in 2016, so it was a year before Cobra Kai was even in production,” says Derek. “They didn’t even know that they were going to shoot Cobra Kai.”
Everyone knows Pat Morita from his beloved Oscar-nominated role as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid franchise, and many remember him as Arnold in the hit TV show Happy Days. However, Morita’s TV...
Derek is a martial artist, producer, and documentarian, whose latest documentary, More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story, seeks to humanize the man behind some of pop culture’s most mythical characters. The timing for such a doc couldn’t have been better, but it turns out that was simply good fortune.
“We started shooting this back in 2016, so it was a year before Cobra Kai was even in production,” says Derek. “They didn’t even know that they were going to shoot Cobra Kai.”
Everyone knows Pat Morita from his beloved Oscar-nominated role as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid franchise, and many remember him as Arnold in the hit TV show Happy Days. However, Morita’s TV...
- 2/5/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
"He had a lot of inner demons." Love Project Films has debuted an official trailer for a documentary titled More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story, made by filmmaker Kevin Derek. This is Derek's first film about Morita, but not his first about Karate Kid connections - he also made Empty Hand: The Real Karate Kids and The Real Miyagi (about karate master Fumio Demura). The beloved Japanese-American, Oscar nominated actor best known for his role of Mr. Miyagi, left behind a painfully revealing autobiographical record of his much-too-brief time here on earth. Tracing his journey from being bed bound as a boy to the bright lights and discrimination in Hollywood. Deep inside that sweet, generous, multi-talented performer seethed an army of demons, that even alcohol and drugs couldn't mask. Pat Morita passed away in 2005, but this film seems to beautifully brighten his legacy and share his entire life story with us.
- 1/11/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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