Martin & Jesse Kove Talk Westerns, Current Projects, & Jesse’s Superhero Pilot [Interview]

Photo Credit: Indican Pictures

Jesse and Martin Kove are a father-son duo who love to work with each other. You may know Martin Kove from Karate Kid/Cobra Kai, where he plays the intimidating antagonist John Kreese. Jesse recently stopped by the Kinda Nerdy Girls to discuss his current projects; now he’s back with his father. Check out the interview below, where Martin talks about his love for Westerns, and get an update on Jesse’s superhero pilot.

Check out the interview below!

KJ: So are you guys excited to be together promoting another project?

JESSE: We’re always excited to be promoting stuff together. So thank you.
MARTIN: It’s always good to be with my son.

KJ: So we’re talking this morning about Far Haven, which has been out, but it’s about to make its debut on Sunday, April 14th on INSP. I wanted to start with you, Martin, and pose the question. This is a Western, and do you have any thoughts on why this particular genre still continues to appeal to us and we want more stories?

MARTIN: Well, you know, thanks to Taylor Sheridan who I believe in, you know, he wrote this film 1883, which was on Paramount Plus. And then, of course, people caught on to Yellowstone. But I think 1883 was brilliant because it was about the American drive coming across in wagon trains. And I just, you know, I analyze this all the time. We have a Western comic book coming out that we’re trying to make into a series. And Jesse just did a movie called The Gunfighter’s Deal about he makes a deal with the devil to be the fastest gun in the West. The genre itself is the first part of American cinematic heritage. In 1906, no, it was 1903, they made a movie called The Great Train Robbery. And it was a silent movie. But what was interesting was, is that I think all that silent era which set up the Western, all the people were still living in those days. So they’d go and they’d watch a movie about Tombstone, and it was 1910. And they were still around when there was the gunfight at the O.K. Corral just in 1881. So you had the same people, the farmers, the people, the ranchers, All those people were now experiencing silent movies. And the first movies we made were Westerns. You know, they weren’t gangster movies or they weren’t romantic movies. The first films that came out of Hollywood were Westerns. And in that silent era, all the people were still living who watched those films in Abilene, who watched them in, you know, Tucson. And they lived in the West as well. So I think Yeah, they were watching themselves on the silent screen and they adhere to it and they loved it. And the genre is all about, you know, American progress and, you know, the good things and the bad things that we did in the West and… It’s also the height of drama.

JESSE: It’s the height of drama and struggle.

MARTIN: Yeah, I mean, it’s endless. And romance. Yeah, I mean, you know, Jesse and I watched 1883, and what the immigrants were given a paperback in Europe, and then we said, get free land in America. So they came here, and they had to entertain snakes, Native Americans, outlaws, tornadoes, and rivers. And those were five things that anybody who wanted land and wanted to live in the West had to entertain. And I think that’s part of what we as Americans are about, endless adventure and conquering the unknown, you know.

KJ: Yeah. Well, speaking of adventure, Jesse, I wanted to ask you, because there is a scene in Far Haven, and it seems like your gunwork is pretty on point. You’re rapid firing, and it’s one of those really just intense, amazing scenes. Can you take us through filming that? Do you have a say, or are you getting the direction?

JESSE: Well, I’m so glad you saw that. So I do train. I do a lot of firearms training and train over at Terran Tactical, Terran Butler, who trained Keanu Reeves for all the John Wick movies and Tom Cruise, and all everybody who’s done every major shootout you’ve seen in the last 10 years. Uh, he’s trained. I work with him, but when I was on set during that day, my scenes are with Bruce Boxleitner and that scene that you saw that’s in the trailer, that was actually, that was actually basically improvised in the moment. My dad. He came, he was on set that day and he said to me, he’s like, you know what, Jesse, why don’t you, why don’t you fan the gun? Which means when you rapid fire like that with your hand. And I did it and the director loved it and they wanted to get a special shot of that. So you have actually got to thank my dad for that, for that shot. Um, you know, those are the kinds of magical things that happen on set when we’re working together.

KJ: Jesse, to go back to the last time we talked, we got into our nerdy obsessions. We talked Harry Potter. We talked Marvel. But you brought up, I wanted to ask if there’s any update. You brought up that you shot a pilot about a super soldier in the future. Do you have any updates on that? Because, man, I hope that that ends up being something we get to see.

JESSE: So they’re actually funny enough, they just sent me a video the day before yesterday, because they’ve been editing it all this time. There’s a lot of visual effects in this project. So it looks awesome. And they’re going to be pitching it out to networks very soon. But I’m very excited how it looks. It’s called Forsaken Mercenary. And it’s a book series. So if you go online, you can pick up the book and you can read it. And I’m playing that character. Forsaken Mercenary, it’s written by Jonathan Yanez. And you can go on Amazon, check out the books. It’s really, really a great, great storyline. It’s very exciting. And I can’t, you know, hopefully things will go and it’ll be great.

For the full interview, including a section where KJ talks with Martin and Jesse about their dogs and cats and an organization they’re doing for animals, check out the full video on YouTube!