Ben Wang first discovered his love for The Karate Kid franchise back in 2010 when he saw Jaden Smith’s Dre Parker learning the iconic “jacket on, jacket off” mantra from Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) at a local movie theater.
“I was the target audience when that movie came out. I was exactly the age of the character,” Wang shared.
“That whole movie takes place in Beijing, and I had just come back from living there for a year. Also, I grew up watching Jackie Chan movies. He is the first memory I have of knowing what an actor is. It was all of my favorite things in one place.”
Thirteen years after his first encounter with the franchise, Sony launched a global casting search for a fresh new Karate Kid lead to star alongside Jackie Chan and original Karate Kid star Ralph Macchio in a new film helmed by Jonathan Entwistle.
At the time, Wang was already starring in American Born Chinese on Disney+, a martial-arts-driven series, and had some experience with Taekwondo. However, Wang initially didn’t consider himself for the role.
“I thought, ‘That’s going to be awesome for whatever kid gets it,’” Wang recalled with a laugh.
The Audition That Changed Everything
Despite his modesty, Wang eventually secured the role of Li Fong in Karate Kid: Legends—beating out over 10,000 hopefuls. Li is a teenage character based in Beijing who moves to New York City with his mother (played by Ming-Na Wen).
His transition is anything but smooth as Li struggles to fit in at his new school while being dragged into unwanted fights. Sony’s official synopsis describes Li’s journey:
“When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition — but his skills alone aren’t enough. Li’s kung fu teacher Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown.”
Wang’s path to landing the role involved creating a self-taped audition from his mother’s school in rural China.
“I did do martial arts,” Wang revealed. “I was actually visiting my mom in China at the time. My mom worked in the countryside in this school in a rural province, and I got the email on my phone.
They were like, ‘They want to see you do some martial arts.’ So, I made the tape in the gymnasium of her school. [To Jonathan] I don’t know if you guys ever looked at that and went, ‘Where the hell is he?’ [Laughs]”
The Search for the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Talent
Jonathan Entwistle, the film’s director, explained that the casting process had a lot riding on finding someone who could embody three qualities: fluency in Mandarin, martial arts ability, and excellent acting skills. Entwistle recounted the discovery of Wang’s audition:
“It was very important that we could have somebody who could speak Mandarin, and who could do martial arts, and we also wanted someone who was an amazing actor. Those three things are really, really difficult to find. We started watching the many, many, many [audition] tapes, and a lot of people could do one or two of the three, but it was really difficult to find the holy trinity.”
He continued: “When we first saw Ben’s tape, we were like, ‘Wow, this kid is in rural China. We found this guy who’s in the middle of nowhere. Wow, this is amazing,’ only to find out that he’s from Minnesota. [Laughs] But that also helped us because Ben could fluently understand the Mandarin and the American side of what the story was all about.”
Wang’s Martial Arts Training Journey
Although Wang had some Taekwondo experience growing up, he trained rigorously for the role under the guidance of stunt coordinators Larry Lam and Peng Zhang.
“The truth is I have a little bit of experience in a lot of different kinds of martial arts, but most of it was after-school Taekwondo that I was doing when I was in grade school,” Wang explained. “It was really fun, and I had some great teachers, but that’s not really on the level that would prepare you to do a movie like this.
The majority of the stuff that you see in the movie is what I worked on with the amazing stunt team led by our stunt coordinators. I trained with them for about a month and a half before we started shooting. We trained five days a week, but I was practicing on my own on the weekends, so it was just nonstop.”
A Cross-Generational Connection in the Karate Kid Universe
The story in Legends brings together Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), connecting their storylines into a shared timeline that fans have dubbed the “Miyagi-verse.” Entwistle described their narrative connection:
“Without giving too much away, I can say that Mr. Han and Mr. Miyagi are the connection to Daniel. The Han family and the Miyagi family are connected all the way back to the old times. And there is a mention of this within the Karate Kid movie canon for those people who want to go looking for it.”
Jackie Chan’s Influence on Set
According to Entwistle, Jackie Chan brought more to the production than just his role as Mr. Han. His creative input was invaluable throughout the film’s production.
“Jackie Chan is a movie star, and that is something that you don’t see so much anymore. He had the ability to come up with a tiny idea that I’d never thought of—and all of Jackie’s tiny ideas are in the movie,” Entwistle explained. “He was like the magical Dumbledore to us on set, and he’s like that in the movie too.”
One memorable example of his creative genius involved a fight scene. “Jackie had the idea to jump out at Ben from a random corner of this space, without Ben even knowing where he was going to be. He was always looking for opportunities to make sequences more dynamic and thrilling.”
New York as a Character in Its Own Right
Portions of Legends take place in New York City, and Entwistle emphasized the symbolic connection of the city to Li’s journey as a “fish out of water.”
“It’s the idea of—in a classic Karate Kid sense—the fish out of water. Ben’s character, Li, is finding his way around the city, and he gets embroiled in the middle of something that’s going to force him to have to stand up and fight,” Entwistle explained. “We pieced that together by shooting on location and building some elements on soundstages to capture New York’s essence.”
Anticipation Builds
Karate Kid: Legends premieres in theaters on May 30, 2025. With its combination of martial arts action, complex storylines, and iconic connections to Karate Kid lore, this new entry promises both nostalgia and fresh intrigue.
