Picture Credits: Netflix
A fact of life: stunt artists and stunt coordinators always have stories. Yes, they’ve crashed cars, been thrown off horses, run through fire, and done all that fun stuff — if they’ve been around long enough. Don Lee is one of those guys — a guy who, at the end of the day, cares deeply about storytelling.
His list of credits and on-set experiences runs long. He’s travelled the world and experienced car flips, explosions, you name it. Plus, fight scenes – including his work on Cobra Kai. It’s a show that means a great deal to him; he was inspired by Karate Kid long before he was performing stunts on Star Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Planet of the Apes. Lee doesn’t just seek to choreograph fights, but to make every punch and kick tell a story and support character.
It’s an instinct for storytelling that shapes his work not only as a stuntman, action and fight coordinator, but as a second unit director and filmmaker-in-the-making. Directing is the goal for Lee, who knows how to tell a story through action.
Recently, he spoke with Netflix about how story, at the end of the day, fuels his decision-making on Cobra Kai and beyond.
What are some moments from Cobra Kai you’re really proud of during your time on the series?
When I met Ralph Maccio on the set, I was like, “Man, I got to be honest with you, I started martial arts because of Karate Kid.” Ralph jokes, “Man, if I had a dollar for everybody that told me that.” I was like, “Cool, I’m not that original.” But it’s the truth. It’s the truth of my lineage of where I came from.
How did studying martial arts lead you to the stunt world?
My very first film set was in 1994 on a Don “the Dragon” Wilson B-movie. Long story short is, I was on a karate circuit in this tournament that was called the Hollywood Classic. It was in Burbank, California. It was a one-off and it had all these [B-movie action stars] Cynthia Rothrock, Billy Blanks, and everyone else showing up.
I asked my parents, “Can I go to this tournament? This is where I’m going to break into Hollywood.” I went and it was between me and this kid named Jimmy, and I lost and he got the movie part [as a reward]. At the time, there was a movie called Sidekicks that came out with Chuck Norris and Jonathan Brandis. I remember going up to the producers, saying, “Hey, I’m just curious, why did you guys pick that kid?” Basically, why did I lose?
And they’re like, “I don’t know, but you look like this kid in our movie. Have you ever thought about doing stunts?” He talked to my dad about me coming in on the show. He’s like, “Hey, if your son wants to fight the main actor, he can do that. ” Sign me up.
Were you sold about the gig on day one?
On my first day, I saw Johnny Lawrence, [Cobra Kai’s] William Zapka, breaking bricks on fire. I was like, “What the hell is this thing?” I was like, “Whoa that’s cool!” Obviously it was safe.
When they called cut, being 14, I just ran up to him and just gave him a hug and said, “Johnny Lawrence.” And he was like, “Who’s this kid?” He was so cool about it. He shook my dad’s hand and let me take a picture with him.
Well, fast forward to 2020 during the pandemic, I get called to do season four of Cobra Kai. My first day on set was at Eagle Fang [dojo] and it was Johnny Lawrence, the real Johnny Lawrence this time, breaking four bricks at Eagle Fang, the same way, but not on fire.
How did that feel?
Surreal, man. I was like, this was like God in the universe saying, “This is where you should be.” It solidified everything that I went through in my own life.
How’d you land the Cobrai Kai gig?
I was a fight coordinator on a Marvel show called Inhumans in Hawaii. I got a call from [producer] Dieter Busch, who goes, “I’m doing this show from YouTube. It’s called Cobra Kai. Would you want to come and do it? ” I said, “Man, I would love to come and do it. Are you guys flying in people from LA?” He’s like, “No, you’d have to be in Atlanta local.” It didn’t work out.
And then during the pandemic, they lost their stunt coordinator and gave me a call to see if I was interested. I met with Jon [Hurwitz], Josh [Heald] and Hayden [Schlossberg], – one of the best creative teams. Those guys welcomed me with open arms and were like, “We look at you as a part of the team. Give us your influence, give us your ideas. What do you think? ”
How’d you want to see the action to evolve throughout the series?
My goal was to say, “Okay, cool, what did we do to level up from season one to four to four to five?” You have a library of movements on library seasons, power consistencies. One of the biggest things when I talked to Ralph, he’s like, “Hey, all of a sudden, I’m a 60-year-old dad who’s doing a 720 kick.”
I asked Ralph, “What are your biggest concerns? What can I do that you haven’t had in the season?” And he’s like, “I want three things. I want to make sure that you give me stuff that I can do. I want stuff that fits my character, and I want my kids to watch the show and be proud of their dad and not think I’m hokey.” Fair enough.
How’d you accomplish those three goals?
My lineage is Okinawan Karate, so I come from an Okinawan Shōrin-ryū background. There’s Goju-ryu but Shōrin-ryū. It’s like brother-sister style, but to me, to understand that and to have all the training that I have from a traditional Okinawan school, I knew exactly where Ralph needed to go. I knew where I wanted to take Miyagi-do. I really knew where to take Cobra Kai with the Tang Soo Do, and Taekwondo.
You need to tell a lot of growth and story.
Also, what Billy introduced to what was called Eagle Fang. I wanted to have that mishmash of what that is. We call him badass Billy, just because Billy just takes a beating and he’s super strong. It’s about building their power consistency and seeing where they would go.
I knew that season five was mainly about the adults. Then season six would be about the Sakaitkai, about the world tournament. In five, I made sure that we can build a stepping stone to where they were regional champions, they were at a state championship level, and now by season six, they were internationally world championship class. I made sure that I had a library of movements.
As a stunt coordinator, what do you want to know from the writers? What questions do you ask?
The question is always, why are we doing what we’re doing? And so, another good kid is Dallas Young, who I got very fresh out of season four. Dallas is an amazing, talented actor kid, but just an athlete as well. I just always ask him, “What do you feel in this and what’s going on? ” And he’s like, “Man, I really want to punch Robbie out because he betrayed Cobra Kai.” I go, “Great. Now you have that emotion. Every move you do, let that speak that emotion.”
It was hard, but it’d be hard for anybody. We would have anywhere from 35 beats to 125 beats, but sometimes that 35 beat fight. We’d get that 115 beat fight and they’re shooting it within two days.
I’ve never been more proud of a cast and a show in my whole career than I was on Cobra Kai. Everybody gave 110%. Even the times where they’re so fucking exhausted from the cold or having to perform the heat. It’s never easy, but if it was easy, anybody could do it.
With these kids on the show, I would always remind them that confidence comes within themselves. I’m hoping throughout the show that they keep that confidence and move forward because they’re all capable. I mean, not many people could say, “Hey, I’m going to be on camera. I got 115 beats to learn tomorrow morning, two pages of dialogue. Cool, here we go, and then do it again.” Because the quote I had was 13,768 choreography in one season.
That’s insane, especially given the notoriously fast-paced world of TV production.
TV time, man, which is nuts. To me, the credit goes to the cast. Our stunt team that helped them out – it wasn’t just myself. We had their doubles, and I just had to keep them on a regimen as well. They were just like, “This is what we do. This is karate time. This is a good time to represent what karate is.”
Hopefully, it stands the test of time. I’m not aiming to go ahead and settle for meteoricity. I want it to be the best and we’re going to push the envelope and we’re going to do it in a way where there is no CGI, no wires, and no six months of rehearsal or whatever any of these other martial art movies that you get.
We don’t get the time that even modern superhero movies like Daredevil. We got way more time, two weeks to do a fight, to do a finale fight that had a hundred beats and choreography.
Given how much the original Karate Kid meant to you, how surreal was it playing Mr. Miyagi?
I ended up having to choreograph and do a fight side by side with Ralph Machio. I played Mr. Miyagi in the dream sequence. I didn’t know this [beforehand], but they gave me a page of dialogue that night to do it with Ralph.
It’s an emotional scene where Ralph was crying. You think I’m going to fuck that up? It’s like, “This is karma. Okay, I tell you guys to do the fight beats, but now I gotta translate.” And so, it was awesome, man. It was a surreal experience. Ralph was an amazing acting partner. I’ve acted before in my life, but nothing like that.
You ended up testing him for his black belt, right?
I tested Tanner Buchanan and Mary Mouser as well. I talked to Ralph early on about. I said, “You’re the karate kid. Do you have a black belt by any chance?” He’s like, “I don’t.” I told him in season four, “If we go through multiple seasons before the show is done, you’re getting your black belt and you’re going to train for it. ” He goes, “Okay, Sensei.”
Even at the end of season six, we’re transitioning to doing Karate Kid Legends. I helped him with that. A cool story with that was like, wow, how martial arts really had brought me into a lot of full circle moments as I’ve worked with Jackie Chan before.
No kidding?
I was on Jackie Chan’s team. I doubled him on The Spy Next Door. I did eight V8 commercials for him. I was like, “Get out of here, man.” Here’s another win for martial arts with me, making something that’s a full circle connection.
I can’t imagine how fulfilling it must’ve been working with Jackie.
He’s the best, man. Jackie was a super gracious, very giving man. Took care of us. One of my favorite highlights of working with Jackie was that he took us out to dinner, to a Chinese restaurant, but he was in the kitchen cooking us dinner. I was like, “You’re cooking us dinner? Jackie Chan cooked it!” I couldn’t believe it, man.
What’s next, Don? You’ve done second-unit directing, so any plans to direct one day? Stunt coordinators always seem to transition well there.
My entire career has been focused on directing through action and emotion storytelling. I’ve been studying and learning on set from the best Hollywood directors for years now. I’ve been on a run of shows, meaning start to finish, nine months with directors like Michael Bay, J.J. Abrams, Justin Lin, and Gore Verbinski. I’ve had the opportunity to direct in Asia, and directing more films and television in the U.S. is the next goal.
Picture Credit: Netflix
That’s a great list to learn from, by the way.
My wheelhouse is action, but I really want to be able to tell just really good stories. If I can tell a good story, after spending 16-hour days on set for six, seven months and you walk away and that project’s awesome, I can say I’m proud of that. It’s the biggest gift in the world. At the end of the day, what position you’re in, it takes a village to make it. I give a shit about being a filmmaker and I’m here to go ahead and create the best story I can because this is what I sacrificed my life for.
Given those sacrifices, not to mention all the hits you take on this job, how do you want directing movies to continue the filmmaking journey you’ve been on?
I think that is the journey. Directing is a goal – a realization that not only do I want to do this, but I can do this. With the action and the fights, that’s the physical dialogue, as we call it. Next, I want to tell the whole story.
What does my experience do for actors? Create trust and help shape the way they think, that this guy has an extensive stunt background and knows to be a good storyteller, knows where this scene is going. They won’t think, how is this going to work? Where is this action going? I’ll be able to tell you exactly how it’s going to work. I just need you to hit this mark. Knowing this car is going to hit, this car is going to turnover, and the person survives and busts out the window, we’re focused on the emotion of, what happens next?
