Tanner Buchanan Teases Karate Kid Film, Rom-Com Revivals And The Final Season Of Cobra Kai

Tanner Buchanan is no stranger to the small screen. But he could be making his move onto the big screen.

The Cobra Kai star has teased what we can expect from the final season of the Karate Kid sequel series and what we can expect from the new film in the franchise. Although he’s keeping things close to his chest.

But he’s not always karate chopping on screen, he has also made a name for himself as a rom-com heart throb. She’s All That, anyone? Okay, maybe just us!

Now he’s starring in Prime Video’s latest teen rom-com How To Date Billy Walsh, where he plays the titular bad boy Billy Walsh – an American exchange student in an English school.

STELLAR caught up with Tanner…

Tanner, congratulations on the film, tell us what attracted you to the role?

I knew Bash [Sebastian Croft] and Charithra [Chandran] were attached to it, and I know they are amazing actors, so just to be able to work with them was something that I wanted to do. And honestly, it’s a really fun-loving and funny script. It’s hard to be able to read something and see the image and be able to laugh, it had me laughing a lot by just reading it. That was a really big plus for me. And I said it once before, but I’ll say it again, just that my character riding a motorcycle was a big thing that I really enjoyed. Anytime I get to ride a motorcycle, especially on camera, I think that sounds awesome.

You’re no stranger to playing the bad boy on screen! So are you a bad boy in real life?

Not at all. [Laughs) I’m definitely more goofy and weird. I think 16/17-year-old me thought he was a bad boy, had long hair and was very brooding, but as I grew up a little bit I thought what am I doing? This has never been me, I don’t know why I’m doing that. But it is something that yes, I have done a couple of times and do feel comfortable playing, but it’s definitely not me.

And this isn’t your first rom-com either, Tanner! You must be a fan of the genre – are you always watching them?

All the time. Honestly I don’t watch much tv nowadays with schedules, I don’t have time. So I usually come back to movies a lot, I rewatch a lot of movies. Just be Just because they make me feel good. Rom-coms are definitely at the top for me

Do you think we are in the great rom-com revival right now?

I hope so. I’m not sure but I hope so, that would be awesome.

To prep for the role, how did you get into Billy’s mind?

Billy doesn’t say much. We see him around a lot. But looking at the script, and I had conversations with Alex the director, we had talked about how there’s a lot of back story for Billy, and we only get into it a little bit in the movie. It was a lot more work than I usually have to do, because usually the story is there and you know the character and there’s some sort of background there within the script, but there wasn’t much background for Billy so I really had to get creative and decide what kind of person he was, where he came from, what his family life is like, what he had been through, so there were a lot of decisions to make which was kind of fun because I had free reign to decide what I wanted him to be and who I wanted him to be. So it was very very fun to be able to do that.

How to Date Billy Walsh is set in the UK, could we see you coming to Ireland for another rom-com?

[Laughs] I would love to. I love to travel. Ireland is actually a place I have not been yet, I would love to though at some point. To be able to just explore, it seems like a really pretty place.

There’s a love doctor in this movie, if you were a love doctor what dating advice would you give?

Oh… If I were a love doctor, the one thing that has always helped me in any relationships, friendships, being a son, and also in romantic relationships; communication is always key. Whether it’s about something bad or good or neutral, whatever it may be. Letting people know how you feel about certain situations, what made you mad or sad or happy, is something that is key to keeping all relationships perfect.

You played an American exchange student in the UK, was that your first time in the UK?

It was not my first time in the UK but it was the first time I had spent an extended period of time there. I was there for six weeks or so, longest I had been in the UK before that was probably like two weeks. It’s interesting, verbiage is different from the US to the UK, and also humour. It was something I had to get adjusted to. Where I was like, is that a joke? Are they kidding? Do I answer back, or do I not answer back? Sorry, you guys said this, what is that? The big one was I was so confused, everyday people would have digestives, which to me sounds like a pill or something to help your digestive tract. I didn’t want to sound embarrassed so for about two weeks I didn’t ask what it was and then I finally realised it was a cookie, or a biscuit. That was the biggest thing for me. Like why is everybody taking a vitamin?

 

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Okay. let’s quickly talk about Cobra Kai…and the new Karate Kid film…

The only thing I know is that it’s happening. I don’t know much about it. It lives in the same universe as far as I understand but it is a completely different story and separate from Cobra Kai.

Very coy! It’s the final season of Cobra Kai, how are you feeling about that?

There is a lot that happens this season. We say it every year, that it’s bigger and better than every season, but truly this season is massive. There is so much that happens, and everyone is putting in so much work, they are giving it their all. Given it’s the last season, everyone is trying their absolute best to make sure that it’s perfect.

How to Date Billy Walsh is currently streaming on Prime Video