The New Karate Kid Movie

Professional Background of Karate Kid Movie Director Harald Zwart

Director of Karate Kid movie Harald Zwart, also directed The Pink Panther 2 (in 2009); Agent Cody Banks (2003); Hamilton (1998); Parents (1992), Gabriel’s Surprise (1990) and many more movies. He was the executive producer for: Tomme Tonner this year, Women in White (2009) and the producer for Lange Flate Ballaer II (2008), a movie in which he also acted. He has written three movies and was the editor for Parents.

History and Early Beginnings of Karate Kid Movie Director

Zwart was born in Norway and was the first from his country to gain membership into the Directors Guild of America. But that’s not all his country can be proud of him for. He made a music video for songwriter and singer Jan Eggum which was the first song in Norwegian to be screened on MTV.

Harald Zwart has a fun side to him too. In an attempt to create a type of Planet Hollywood museum, he gave props from some of his movies to the cinema in Fredikstad (where he grew up) and now it is known

If it’s not broken, why fix it?, so the old adage goes.  Well, it certainly worked for the Karate Kid movies back in the 1980s.  And that is probably why The Karate Kid that is due out in June this year, has the same great writer, Robert Mark Kamen.  Not only did he write The Karate Kid 1984, but he was also the screenwriter for other popular movies, including Taken (2008), The Transporter (2002), The Fifth Element (1997), A Walk in the Clouds (1995) and Lethal Weapon 3 (1992).
More than just a screenwriter and movie enthusiast, Robert Kamen is also quite the academic.  He earned himself a Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania in American Studies.
He actually has another good reason though to have been so successful in writing The Karate Kid movies.  He himself practiced martial arts to a very high level.  He was able to be extremely specific when writing the fighting scenes because he had actually been there.   Kamen claims that getting into the screenwriting market is way more difficult than it was when he started as there just always seems to be someone new and popular out there with whom you are competing against.  So he advises potential screenwriters to focus, and not just use the market as an attempt at a way in to other areas of film making like producing or directing.

Top actors, established writers, and original music all comprise phenomenal ingredients for a top movie.  That is the hope for The Karate Kid, due out on June 11, 2010.  To anyone who knows anything about movie making, it is a given that poor, or inappropriate music can be totally detrimental.  But those waiting to see The Karate Kid need not worry about that. James Horner created the music for this movie and he is a natural.  The guy began learning how to play the piano, when he was a mere five years old. Some years later, still with a love and dedication for music, Horner studied at London’s well-esteemed Royal College of Music.  He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from USC and then his masters at UCLA where he later educated students on music theory.  But that wasn’t enough for Horner.  He had the music studying bug and did a Ph.D in Music Composition and Theory.
So there can be no disputing that Horner knows what is what when it comes to music.  But how does one adapt that to a movie like The Karate Kid?  Not content with just being a music genius, he got into film as well in the late 1970s.  This started with being a film scorer for the American Film Institute, which thereafter led to him being assigned this task for real films.  Horner’s first well known project was music composition for Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan in 1982 and from there on the work just flooded in.  If anyone knows what music would work just perfectly for The Karate Kid, it would be James Horner.

Excitement is mounting on the streets as viewers await the upcoming release of The Karate Kid.  The original Karate Kid movie was first screened more than two decades ago, in 1984 and was so popular that it had three versions.
This time however, there are some slight changes in focus.  The movie, scheduled for screening on June 10, 2010, takes a whole new stand.  It focuses on a young boy learning the complicated martial art kung fu when he ends up in Beijing, China, with his mother.  What is particularly positive about the term kung fu is that the Chinese use it to explain non-martial arts matters as well. For example, as well as being a Chinese martial art, kung fu can actually be used by the Chinese to describe any personal achievement or skill that was developed through arduous work.
To date there have been four versions:  The Karate Kid (1984); The Karate Kid, Part II (1986); The Karate Kid, Part III (1989) and The Next Karate Kid (1994).  After more than 15 years, the Karate Kid returns and it is set to be a wait well worth waiting for.

Taraji P Henson, who plays the mom in the new Karate Kid movie, has appeared in various movies over the last few years.  She was in: Four Brothers, Talk To Me, Smokin’ Acres, Family That Preys, Not Easily Broken, Hurricane Season and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. All of these movies were screened in the last five years.  In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Henson starred alongside Brad Pitt, and was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Queenie.  So she has definitely made a name for herself in recent years.
Henson doesn’t come from an acting family; her mother was in the business world and her father was a fabricator and janitor.  If she has any fame attached to her roots, it would be from her great-grandfather Matthew Henson who was a major player in discovering the Geographic North Pole.  Still, it appeared her parents wanted her to succeed and be happy no matter what she did in life; her two names mean hope and love in Swahili.