In a recent interview with The Guardian’s Tom Lamont to promote his upcoming memoir “Waxing On,” Ralph Macchio touched on a series of topics which correlated to his career’s drastic trajectory. One such subject which the two broached was the matter of Macchio’s costar Elisabeth Shue and her character in the first “The Karate Kid” film, Ali Mills, who was notably absent in the subsequent franchise installments. 

Macchio confessed that the producers intended for his character to cycle through love interests in a style similar to James Bond. So, while filming the second and third entries, her absence hardly phased him. In the intervening years, though, Macchio says that his complacency has become a source of regret.

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“I never looked at it from the perspective of Ali’s character or from the perspective of Elisabeth as an actor,” said Macchio. “As an older person, there was a recognition of missteps, of things I should have done differently.” 

Macchio went on to say that, in retrospect, he realizes that he should have reached out to Shue, that he should have stood up for her, but that he isn’t certain if his allegiance would have changed anything. “I dunno. They probably would have said to me, ‘Get outside, Macchio, and start practicing your karate kicks…’ Today, I think, there would be a different conversation.” In fact, as he acknowledges about the industry at large, the mistreatment of women on film sets was a bigger issue than just how it impacted the “Karate Kid” franchise. In Macchio’s words, “Women in movies were often thought to be disposable. I see that now. Then? I didn’t see it. It was a case of youth being wasted on the young. I was swept up in everything that was happening in my life.”