Charlie Sheen was the original Karate Kid?

Yesterday, Charlie Sheen’s memoir The Book of Sheen reached store shelves – and just hours later, the two-part documentary aka Charlie Sheen dropped on the Netflix streaming service. As you would expect, there are a whole lot of mind-boggling stories revealed in the documentary (Netflix’s Tudum site even has a list of unforgettable moments), but the one that might be most interesting to film fans (aside from the revelation that Sheen had an ice cube in his butt while filming a scene for the 1998 movie Free Money) is that Sheen says he was cast to play Daniel LaRusso in the original The Karate Kid, but turned down the part so he could fly to Hungary and work on his acting debut, Grizzly II!

Here’s how Tudum describes the Karate Kid revelation: Sheen says in the documentary that just before leaving for Budapest to film his first movie, Grizzly II: Revenge, with George Clooney and Laura Dern, he auditioned for The Karate Kid and was offered the lead role of Daniel LaRusso, later made famous by Ralph Macchio, by director John G. Avildsen. But his father, Martin Sheen, encouraged him to keep his word and honor his prior commitment to the other project.

That situation really worked out for Ralph Macchio, who ended up starring in three Karate Kid movies, then going on to reprise the role of Daniel LaRusso in six seasons of the TV series Cobra Kai and the legacy sequel Karate Kid: Legends. Things didn’t go so well with Grizzly II, which was primarily filmed in 1983 but not properly completed and released until 2021.

Directed by John G. Avildsen from a screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, The Karate Kid has the following synopsis: Daniel (Ralph Macchio) moves to Southern California with his mother, Lucille (Randee Heller), but quickly finds himself the target of a group of bullies who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo. Fortunately, Daniel befriends Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita), an unassuming repairman who just happens to be a martial arts master himself. Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing, training him in a more compassionate form of karate and preparing him to compete against the brutal Cobra Kai. Grizzly II was directed by André Szöts from a script by David Sheldon and Joan McCall. In that one, a giant grizzly bear goes on a bloody rampage as people gather for a concert at Yellowstone National Park. Sheen, George Clooney, and Laura Dern have small roles as a trio of hikers who get killed by the bear.

After returning from Hungary, Sheen went to work on Red Dawn, which had filming dates that overlapped with The Karate Kid‘s production schedule.

Can you imagine Charlie Sheen playing Daniel LaRusso in the original The Karate Kid, or do you think Grizzly II was the better fit? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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