Veteran actor Martin Kove chatted about his new movie “Queen of the Ring,” and being a part of the “Cobra Kai” final season.
Directed by Ash Avildsen, “Queen of the Ring” is based on a true story. In a time when professional wrestling for women was illegal all over the country, a small town single mother Mildred Burke (Emily Bett Rickards) embraces the danger to change culture as she dominates America’s most masculine sport to become the first million dollar female athlete in history.
Aside from Kove and Ricakrds, the cast includes Josh Lucas, Tyler Posey, Walton Goggins, Francesca Eastwood, Marie Avgeropoulos, and Gavin Casalegno.
In “Queen of the Ring,” Kove plays the role of wrestling and boxing promoter Al Haft.
“While I didn’t have too big of a role in ‘Queen of the Ring,’ I thought Emily Bett Rickards did an excellent job, the cast was great, and Ash Avildsen did a wonderful job writing it and directing it.”
“Many people may have never heard of Mildred Burke, but they will know about her after this movie,” he said.
“I hope people check this film out. Everybody did a wonderful job,” Kove admitted about “Queen of the Ring.”
‘Cobra Kai’ final season
On being a part of the final season of “Cobra Kai” on Netflix, he said, “It was very exciting. It was all about vulnerability and love, and it had a lot of surprises. Whoever watches it, there is not a dry eye in the house.”
“It was a culmination of 40 years of a relationship with Johnny Lawrence,” he added.
Lessons learned from this show
On the lessons learned from this Netfix show, Kove said, “It taught me a lot about vulnerability. I enjoyed playing a more vulnerable character than a tough guy. I learned a lot about working with oneself and emotionally.”
“It was really great doing backstories on this character so heavily because they did not do them as heavily when I did ‘The Karate Kid’ movies,” he noted.
Playing the iconic John Kreese
“My character, John Kreese, became more and more vulnerable due to these descriptions as to why he was the way he was thanks to those flashbacks, and it allowed me to truly experience the character differently than when I first made the movie,” Kove explained.
“Working with William Zabka and Ralph Macchio is always a blast. We always have a good time. It really was very exciting,” Kove admitted.
Kove on Jacob Bertrand and Gianni DeCenzo
He also had kind words about the younger actors Jacob Bertrand and Gianni DeCenzo. “They are both good boys,” he said. “I would love to do Jacob’s podcast because I haven’t done it yet. We have a lot of him with Jacob and Payton. They are a good nucleus of ‘Cobra Kai’.”
When asked if he would come back to do more “Gravesend,” he responded, “I would love to come back, if William DeMeo invites me. I don’t get a chance to play a rabbi that often. I was in it with my son Jesse, so that was a lot of fun.”
Future plans
On his future plans, he shared, “I am looking for a showrunner for ‘Prodigal Son.’ It is very exciting. It is about a 12-year-old boy bonding with an old gunfighter, and they exchange moral fibers between them, and they become more formidable human beings as a result.
“This project involves four comic books and a graphic novel. Once we have a showrunner, we will be moving forward with it.” he added.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Kove revealed, “The Tenacious Wild West.”
In his personal life, he is a proud father to twins Jesse Kove and Rachel Kove.
‘Far Haven’
He spoke about doing the western film “Far Haven,” which was directed by Gary Wheeler. “It was good. I had a good time with that. I worked with some friends on that, so it was enjoyable. It is always enjoyable to do a western. All the time,” he said.
‘Cagney & Lacey‘
“I enjoyed that very much, even though it was a long time ago,” he said about his time in “Cagney & Lacey.”
“It was such an interesting time in my life in the ‘80s,” Kove noted. “It was a terrific yet controversial TV series because it had two women detectives. I played the chauvinist, who felt that women shouldn’t be there; they should be home cooking.”
“In real life, I’ve always felt that a woman can do anything a man can do because my mother was more dominant in my family than my father. Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly were great. Everybody was great; it was a tight-knit family,” he ackowledged.
Final thoughts about ‘Cobra Kai’
For his fans and viewers, Kove concluded, “’Cobra Kai’ never dies, and neither does John Kreese.”
To learn more about Martin Kove, follow him on Instagram.
