Pat Morita Documentary

Pat Morita had been working on a secret manuscript about his life, 9 years before his death. It covers all his hardships and struggles all the way to his last marriage. His last dying wish was for this to be produced. Please help us celebrate his life by sharing his story with the world.

Anyone who makes a contribution, will get their name on the Big Screen in the end credits

So far we have interviewed...


...and many more celebrities to be interviewed!

WHO IS PAT MORITA?

Born in 1932, Pat Morita battled spinal tuberculosis at the age of two. Morita spent nine years at a sanitarium in a body cast battling for his life. The day of his release he was escorted by FBI agents to join his family at Gila River interment center in Arizona but the reunion proved to be difficult. The Morita family moved to Fairfield, California after the war. He helped his father at his Chinese restaurant in Sacramento that they owned. Later, he landed a job with an aerospace firm. Around the time he was thirty, Morita abandoned his corporate career to be a comedian. He struggled for many years as a stand-up comic known as the “Hip Nip” in the nightclub circuit. Morita appeared in several TV series in the 1970s, including Sanford and Son, M.A.S.H, Welcome Back Kotter, Hawaii Five-O and many more. Later, Morita joined the cast of the 1970s sitcom Happy Days, he left the series after the first season to star in the short-lived comedy Mr. T and Tina; one of the first television shows to have an Asian American lead character. In 1982, Morita returned to Happy Days for its final season. In 1984, Morita saw his career reach new heights with his iconic role playing Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid that earned him a Golden Globe and an OSCAR nomination.


SYNOPSIS

Pat Morita is no longer with us, but fortunately for his multitude of adoring fans throughout the world, he left behind a painfully revealing autobigraphical record of his much-too-brief time here on earth. And what a high-flying time it was!
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Pat’s life story might be best described as a journey from one “prison” to the next – beginning with his early childhood, the first decade of which he spent in a charity hospital ward, encased in a rigid body cast from his neck to his knees.

Miraculously able to walk once more, he was then locked behind the barbed wire enclosure of a World War II Japanese-American internment camp for the next three years.

After the war, he found himself imprisoned within the narrow confines of matrimony and parenthood, while desperately pursuing a comedy career in the ghetto-like world of show business. One in which he was constantly told that “Japs ain’t funny.”

But the most formidable prison of them all – one that he’d built himself and could never escape from – as his ever-increasing addiction to drugs and alcohol.

People seeing Pat Morita on television or in films would invariably endow him with those same positive traits of Mr. Miyagi, that all-knowing Zen Master of the Karate Kid films, who could catch a fly in mid-flight with a pair of chop-sticks; a transcendental guru with a twinkle in his eye, who had the solution to any of life’s challenges.

In truth, the real Pat Morita was quite the opposite.  For deep inside that sweet, generous, multi-talented performer seethed an army of demons, taunting him with every temptation known to man.  Some days, Pat could grapple with, and even defeat these demons.  Most days, he couldn’t.

Pat Morita’s never-completed autobiography (in reality, more of a “confessional” than a “memoir”) recounts the truly extraordinary events of both his private life and his professional career – which might help to explain the conflicting forces that forever plagued this complicated beloved “funny man.”

DIRECTOR: KEVIN DEREK

Kevin attended Columbia College in Hollywood, California, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Motion Pictures in 1990.

Kevin has extensive experience in the movie industry both as producer, director and editor. Kevin’s first credit as a producer was The Ultimate Game, an action adventure, produced for the video market that sold worldwide. 

Derek also directed two documentary films about martial arts called Empty Hand  that premiered at the Academy Awards accredited film festival DOC NYC, and The Real Miyagi, about the man behind the biggest action star legends in Hollywood such as Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris starring Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Micheal Jai White and many others which has won 6 international awards. Now available on Netflix Worldwide
 
Derek is currently The Festival Director for the prestigious Irvine International Film Festival. Last year alone, 11 of the festival’s Official Selections were shortlisted for the Academy Awards, with nine OSCAR nominations between them. Seven-time Emmy winning actor Ed Asner (Up, The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Academy Award winning director John G. Avildsen (Rocky), both of whom received Lifetime Achievement Awards at IIFF.

PRODUCER: OSCAR ALVAREZ

Oscar began his career in the entertainment industry as an actor. It was his time as an actor when he realized his true calling was behind the camera.
In July of 2004, he had an amazing opportunity to work with OSCAR Nominated Director, David O. Russell (Joy, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter) and came aboard his Iraq war documentary, SOLDIERS PAY as Production Manager.

Oscar continued on as Head of Production for the shooting of all the I HEART HUCKABEES supplemental materials, foreign and domestic, including the Jon Brion music video, KNOCK YOURSELF OUT with Mark Wahlberg/Jason Schwartzman, and the Dustin Hoffman/Lilly Tomlin infomercial, HOW AM I NOT MYSELF?  All the while, Oscar managed and oversaw the day-to-day operations of David O. Russell’s production company, KANZEON.

In 2011, Oscar teamed up with documentarian, Kevin Derek to produce the award winning feature documentary film, EMPTY HAND currently written up in Black Belt Magazine as “A MUST SEE...the first real Karate movie in years".

In 2012, Oscar teamed up with Producer, Todd Jeffery to create a cerebral comedy short film by Writer/Director, Dustin Thomas Cartmill called THE WOLF starring Zach Cregger, Caitriona Balfe and Frank Rautenbach.

In 2013, he teamed up again with Kevin Derek to produce his second feature documentary film, THE REAL MIYAGI featuring Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal, Michael Jai White, Tamlyn Tomita, Fumio Demura and the late Pat Morita.

In 2014, Oscar teamed up again with Producer/Writer/Director, Todd Jeffery in his Feature Thriller, NO ESCAPE starring Gabe Fazio (The Place Beyond the Pines) and BoJesse Christopher (Point Break) which is currently in post production.

The two documentary films produced by Oscar about martial arts did great in the festival circuit. Empty Hand  premiered at the Academy Awards accredited film festival DOC NYC and The Real Miyagi  has won 6 International Awards. 

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:  EVELYN GUERRERO MORITA 

Evelyn Guerrero , The wife of Pat Morita. She started her theatrical career at a young age and came from a show business family, as a result met Pat as a young girl. Her aunt Sally Marr was grooming Pat as a stand up comic at the time, but little did Evelyn realize she would one day marry Pat years later.

Evelyn went on to pursue a successful career of her own. Some of her credits includes "Bound by Honor" opposite Benjamin Bratt,  she starred in 3 Cheech and Chong films:  "Nice Dreams", "Next Movie" and "Things are Tough All Over", Guest starred in the Jean-Claude Van Damme film "Inferno" other notable credits include Luis Valdez series "Fort Figueroa",TV series, "I Married Dora", "Star Trek the Next Generation"and Series regular on TV series "Dallas"

She also guest starred on numerous episodic and T.V. series such as:  Hill St. Blues, Baretta, Police Woman, Quincy, Remington Steele, Matt Houston, Frank Cannon, The Colby's, Trapper John,  Santa Barbara, General Hospital,  Facts of Life and Chicken Soup, to name a few.

A Member of SAG, AFTRA and Equity. Studied with Stella Adler and Ralph Waite and a member of the Los Angeles Actors Theater

"It was Pat's dying wish to his wife, Evelyn to have his biography published or made into a film. So it's been her quest to full fill this promise."

WHAT WILL MY CONTRIBUTION PAY FOR?

This may be the only documentary film done on his life, but it's still an independent feature, which means small budgets will be stretched as far as they will go. We want to produce the best documentary possible to preserve his legacy.

As far as our funding goal, we are only asking for the bare minimum of what is needed to get this shot and in the can.

Pat Morita's family and colleagues that we need to interview live all over the United States. These are production costs and some of the money we raise will help to pay for travel expenses.

We plan on filming this project with 4K resolution cameras, so it's appealing to different distribution platforms, because that's where the technology is headed. Soon all TV stations are going to broadcast in 4K, and we want to be in line with what these distributors are looking for.

A big portion of the budget is for clearing the rights to studio footage that will make the final cut of the documentary film. Pat Morita has appeared in over 200 films and T.V shows combined. We need to pick wisely depending on the story and our budget, what we can afford.

In addition, your contribution will be used to pay for post production editing, sound mixing and music clearances.  This chart will help you understand how the funds raised will be allocated.

WHERE WILL THE FILM BE RELEASED?

Our goal is to distribute Pat Morita's documentary film on NETFLIX and other VOD platforms like our previous doc, The Real Miyagi.  We had a lot of success and we were able to make it available worldwide for everyone to enjoy.

Website: http://www.patmoritathemovie.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pat.Morita.Long.Story.Short/