Toshiro Mifune as Mister Miyagi?

[John Farson]

Reading the "Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan Kenobi?" thread made me remember this.

The trivia section of Karate Kid's IMDB page has this to say:

The legendary Toshirô Mifune auditioned for the role of Mister Miyagi. Although he was great in the audition (according to director John G. Avildsen in the DVD Commentary), it was felt that his version of Miyagi was "too serious" and played much like the samurai warriors he played in the Kurosawa movies. Because of this, he was turned down.

A "Yojimbo"-like Mr Miyagi? Now there's an interesting thought. Imagine Mr Miyagi doing the Yojimbo "hand scene" (at 0:14) to one of the Cobra Kai Wouldn't happen though, but the dynamic might be altered a bit.

So how do you think Mifune as Miyagi would have affected the film, and the franchise in general? Would he have had a better chance of winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (the 1984 Award went to Haing Ngor for The Killing Fields)? Undoubtably Mifune would be better known in the West, like if he had played Obi-Wan in SW.

 

[Fenrir_Angerboda]

Mifune would have been 64, compared to Morita's 52. that Might be a little too old.

Considering the Effort Mifune puts into his various rolls, he might not live to make the sequels. Remember by 1992 he was suffering from something. Too much work might make it worse, earlier.

as for the Film itself, the 1980s is probably the height of his Western Popularity, if he still was in Shogun.
he might have a chance to win the award, depending on how the film goes.

 

[John Farson]

Considering the sequels, their absence wouldn't be a great loss. The 2nd film was ok, but the rest... nah.

As for age, Harrison Ford was 65 when he did the last Indiana Jones film, so I think it would be doable for Mifune, though like you said the intense effort might take its toll on him.