‘Cobra Kai’ Cast Member Martin Kove Refused to Talk to Leonardo DiCaprio About ‘Titanic’

Cobra Kai brought Martin Kove back to reprise his most famous role. Kove has had many other roles besides The Karate Kid though. He’s been in movies from Rambo: First Blood Part II to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, television shows like Cagney & Lacey, and stage work. In fact, when he worked with Leonardo DiCaprio, Titanic was not the subject of conversation.

Kove hosts his own podcast, Kicking It with the Koves, with his son Jesse and daughter Rachel. On the June 23 episode, Kove discussed his own encounters with celebrities, including DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Cobra Kai returns for season 5 Sept. 9

What Martin Kove talked about with Leonardo DiCaprio instead of ‘Titanic’

In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, DiCaprio played struggling actor Rick Dalton. Of course, he was the star of the movie in real life. Kove played another actor in the western Bounty Law. But, Kove knew DiCaprio didn’t want to talk about Titanic.

“When I was with DiCaprio, what did we talk about?” Kove said on Kicking It with the Koves. “We talked about our love for westerns. He said to me, ‘What’s your favorite western?’ We just talked and talked and talked. I didn’t tell him, ‘I loved you in Titanic.’ All these things are just surface.”

What to talk to Martin Kove about if you meet him

Kove meets a lot of fans at conventions and he happily talks with all of them. But if you want to impress him, do like he did with DiCaprio.

“It’s like someone said to me, ‘I loved you in Lincoln Center in this thing called Delicate Champions,’” Kove said. “I did Lincoln Center in 1972. The bottom line is it’s not a celebrated Rambo. It’s not the celebrated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, it’s not Karate Kid. It’s remote and I think that’s what these giants love to chat with you. I think every actor who’s achieved something loves when people know those little credits from way back.”

It was true of Hollywood legends, too

Since Kove is an actor himself, he relates to other actors who always get asked about their popular work. Kove is still a fan of other actors, so when he meets them he tries to find something that will be important to them.

“I could’ve asked a very interesting question because so many times, they like when you have a remote taste,” Kove said. “So it has to do with a play they did 20 years ago. You wouldn’t say, ‘Steve McQueen, I loved you in The Magnificent Seven or The Great Escape’. Everybody asks that but if you remember he did a play, back in New York, a little off-Broadway piece because you followed his career, then you engage in a conversation, then he’ll talk to you.”