It's not easy being a child star of the '80s. Few have made it into adulthood without drugs, audience disinterest or mismanagement sidelining their careers or halting any momentum they might've had. And in some cases, you turn into the pod person that was formerly Kirk Cameron. But for Ralph Macchio, he's avoided the tabloid headlines of some of his contemporaries, and fallen largely into a path that sees him riffing on his former celebrity. But he's lined up a role that could be a nice entry into more serious roles, or just a reminder that he's around, willing to work and that he's not the Karate Kid anymore.
Macchio has joined the sprawling ensemble of Sacha Gervasi's "Alfred Hitchcock And The Making Of Psycho." He'll be taking on the role of Joe Stefano, the young screenwriter who came in and adapted Robert Bloch's novel, winning approval from Hitchock after the first draft by James Cavanagh was turned down by the director. Remarkably, "Psycho" was only Stefano's second film (he wrote Martin Ritt's "The Black Orchid" previously), but he turned in a crackerjack script that helped craft one of the greatest horror films of all time.
Macchio will be rubbing shoulders with Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, Toni Colette, Danny Huston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Wincott, Kurtwood Smith and Wallace Langham on the film that starts shooting this month. [Deadline]
