We have all come to know and love Gianni DeCenzo as Demetri in Netflix’s Karate Kid follow-up series: Cobra Kai. With Cobra Kai Season 4 just on the horizon and Season 3 nominated for Best Comedy Series along with five other categories for the 2021 Emmys, Ky Kasselman got to chat with Gianni about his connection to his character Demetri, his experience being on set during the pandemic, being Emmy nominated, the connection with fans, where’d he’d like to see Cobra Kai go, and what’s up next for him.
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KY: First of all, I am so excited for Cobra Kai Season 4; I’m a big fan of the show.
GIANNI: Thank you!
K: What are you looking forward to the most as far as the fan reception of Season 4?
G: I think fans are gonna really enjoy the story and character arcs that are gonna happen later on, especially with Demetri and Eli; they obviously had kind of a rough relationship. I guess you could call it [that]. But right there, towards the end, we thought he was going to break Demetri’s arm again, but it turns out they were working together. I can’t wait for people to kind of see how that relationship develops. I mean, there are still some things that they have to get over. It’s gonna be something to look forward to.
K: Yeah, for sure! Kind of building off of that, obviously, like you said, a huge part of Demetri’s storyline is his complicated friendship with Eli. Can you pull any inspiration for that storyline from your own life? How do you get into that kind of mode for that complicated relationship?
G: I’ve never really said this before, but I actually had kind of complicated friendships like that growing up. I was in elementary school or something like that; It was like one of my closest friends, and I can’t even tell you why we had a falling out. I don’t even remember why. We just didn’t really get along for a while there. It never got so bad to the point where he got a karate dojo to beat me up, though.
K: Fair enough.
G: I’m very grateful for that. But yeah, we had a falling out. And I don’t know why. We just got back together, and [then] we were friends again. Kind of just how kids work. No rhyme or reason to what they do.
K: Exactly! How has COVID impacted Cobra Kai‘s filming? Did you guys have to change up how fight scenes worked?
G: Oh, yeah. We have to change everything this season. This was definitely one of the weirdest filming processes I’ve ever been a part of, and that’s how it is with literally every set [right now]. I’ve been doing this for 11 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it. We actually train in advance. We have like a solid two weeks before we actually start filming just to kind of get back into things, get people loosened up, and ready for the fight sequences. Doing that was interesting because we had to wear masks the entire time. And this might sound gross, but I kind of felt like I was drowning and suffocating the entire time breathing in a mask. The sweat was just building. It was gross. It was just a gross process. But we were staying safe, and that’s all that matters. They had us split up into groups and zones. Actors and anybody that works with actors [are] Zone A, and so on and so forth. We had to do things in pieces. We would have the set decorators come in; they would put lights up and stuff like that. Then they would have to leave, and the live camera people would come in with the actors. So no one was really coming into contact with people unless they had to.
K: Did that kind of experience impact your personal experience of filming? Because I feel like, in one way, going through those hard times would be super bonding, but in another way, obviously, you [have] to stay away from a lot of people.
G: It’s definitely tough because we like to hang out with each other in Georgia, and we hang out back in California too. We’d like to go out and do things on our off time, and we couldn’t really do that too much because we had to quarantine and stay safe for everyone. Other than that, it didn’t really change too much. We still got to see each other on set and hang out there. So it was a lot of fun. We did have to eat in our [own] trailers. That was a little weird, just because you can’t really be with everyone [and] you kind of miss that camaraderie. We still kept in touch. We had zooms that we would do with each other. We played Jackbox TV games, and that was fun. It made up for the lost time.
K: That’s so fun. Did you grow up watching Karate Kid movies?
G: Oh, yeah, I had seen the original Karate Kid. My dad was a big fan of it. Way before I had even heard of the Cobra Kai series, we had seen it. We watched it together. It was a lot of fun. Obviously, it wasn’t from my generation, so it didn’t connect with me as much as it did with my dad, but it’s just kind of cool to get to share that with him. In Season 2, he came with me to [the] set, and I felt so proud. I got to show him around. I was like, “so this is Cobra Kai” “Yeah, this is Miyagi-Do.” It was just really fun. The cool thing about the Miyagi-Do set is that it’s an actual house. It’s built on the lot. It doesn’t have an interior, really, except for the dojo rooms. If you go through the door, it’s just a bunch of wood planks and stuff like that—sorry to break the magic—but that’s a really cool set to show people. I was really happy to show him that.
K: Is he jealous that you get to work with this all-star cast from the movies?
G: I don’t think he’s as jealous as he is just proud of me. It was just so exciting to be like, so, Dad, this is Ralph Macchio. This is William Zabka. You know, these are my friends. Whatever. No big deal.
K: That’s amazing.
Gi: Yeah, he’s just super proud of me. Both my parents are.
K: How would you say you are both similar and different to your character Demetri?
G: This is a tricky question! I would say it’s about 50/50. I’m very geeky; that’s just who I am. Jacob and Xolo can attest to that. We play Magic: The Gathering. That’s a card game they got me into, and they just kick my ass all the time. I still play. I’m very geeky, [but] I wouldn’t say I’m as sarcastic as Demetri. I definitely don’t get myself beaten up as much as he does.
K: I mean, that’s a good thing, right?
G: Yeah, [it’s] a very good thing that I don’t have a karate gang after me! The cool thing about playing a character this long is that you pull from who you are as a person, and you put that in every character that you ever portray. When you’re playing a character this long, it kind of becomes its own persona, and you can kind of slip in and out of that persona whenever you need to. It almost feels like Demetri is a part of me. It’s an actor’s dream. I’m very fortunate.
K: And Congratulations on Cobra Kai being an Emmy nominated series! That’s amazing. How awesome was it to get that news?
G: It was interesting. I didn’t know I would be a part of something like that. Eight-year-old me, when I first started [acting], wouldn’t be thinking I would be a part of that, but yeah, thank you.
K: How did everyone react to getting that news?
G: It’s just crazy. We have been nominated for the stunt department before, they do an amazing job, and they deserve every award they ever get, but it’s just really cool to get to be a part of something this big. I’m just really happy that the creators of the show and everyone working on the show gets the credit that they deserve, finally. We have an amazing group of people. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but we have like a great group of people. They work so hard to get the show out to everyone. I think it’s just great.
K: They all deserve it, for sure. What does it feel like to see all of the Cobra Kai fans so invested in these characters’ stories?
G: It’s awesome. I mean, I get to meet people! I did a convention sort of thing and I got to meet so many fans, and they’re all just so passionate about it. It’s amazing to think that I get to do something that they love. I love being able to just give them that kind of joy. We have just an amazing fan base. We wouldn’t have a show without them. So, props to them.
K: Speaking of dedicated fans, I actually have a couple of questions from a huge fan of the show, my friend Morgan.
G: Hi Morgan!
K: She’d like to know if there are any cast members that you wish you had more scenes with?
G: Oh, oh, okay. I definitely want to have more scenes with William Zabka. Mostly, because really, the only thing that I’ve had with him up until now is just me calling him Hitler. Then he flips me off. So we have kind of a rough character relationship there. I definitely want to see more Demetri and Johnny back-and-forth because they have very different approaches to problems. He’s very much like, punch your problems [and] Demetri is more of a, well let’s think this through. They definitely have very different points of view. I just love seeing that kind of back-and-forth. I would love to have more things with him; that’d be awesome.
K: Do you have any storylines that you wish had been explored more in previous seasons?
G: I feel like the writers are really good at getting everything they need to put out there. It would be cool if we could see some of Demetri’s past with Eli, maybe some flashbacks of them going to camp or something, just to kind of see how long they’ve been friends. We’ve known that they’ve been friends for—I don’t even know how long—a long time. It would be really cool to kind of explore that past relationship before Eli got Hawk-ified.
K: Do you have any upcoming projects besides Cobra Kai Season 4 that we should be on the lookout for?
G: With COVID, there hasn’t been like a whole lot of auditions. It’s just [now] starting to pick up again. I’m kind of just doing all sorts of auditions [now]. I’ve got some voiceover stuff that I’m trying to do. I’m trying to explore that area a little bit. I’ve done like one radio commercial in the past. And I like the idea of showing up to work in pajamas, so I’m gonna have to check that out. Eventually, I want to do some of my own projects. I have a couple of stories and stuff that I want to make into short films and later on into movies and TV series. I have a lot of ideas. I could go on all day.
K: That’s awesome! Well, yeah, that’s all I have. I’m so excited for Cobra Kai Season 4! The teaser looks awesome.
G: I know. Everyone’s super pumped about it.
K: Thank you so much for doing this interview!
G: Yeah, of course.
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Cobra Kai is now streaming on Netflix with Season 4 set to release in December. Watch the trailer!
