Ke Huy Quan Wants To Play A ‘Diabolical, Really Bad Guy’

You’d be hard-pressed to find a star who radiates as much positive energy as Ke Huy Quan – from his ebullient adolescent performances in The Goonies and Temple Of Doom, to his heart-swelling Oscar-winning turn in Everything Everywhere All At Once, to his affable performance in Loki Season 2. But beyond his impending fight-fuelled action-comedy Love Hurts, Quan has a desire to play against type. Yes, the friendliest man in Hollywood wants to see if being bad really does feel pretty good.

“I would love to play a bad guy. Like a Bond villain,” Quan tells Empire in a major novel interview in the 28 Years Later issue. “Or the kind of thing Hugh Grant does in Heretic.” The worse he can go, the better. “I want to go out of my comfort zone and just play this diabolical, really bad guy,” he laughs. “That would be a lot of fun.” Someone get him a fluffy white Blofeld cat, stat.

For Quan, as he moves beyond his Oscar-winning comeback as Waymond in Daniels’ multiversal masterpiece, he plans to keep showing all the different shades and colours that that film was able to showcase. While Love Hurts will display his mastery of martial arts (for years, Quan worked behind-the-scenes on action choreography, including on 2000’s X-Men), he wants to keep showing more. “I don’t want to be perceived as an action star,” he explains. “I hope I’m perceived as an actor who does action well. So I’m going to take it one step at a time. The best part about being an actor is, you get to play a variety of different characters. I love [Loki’s] Ouroboros because he’s so different than [EEAAO’s] Waymond, and Waymond is so different than [Love Hurts’] Marvin Gable.” Let the cinematic multiverse unfold.

Read Empire’s full novel Ke Huy Quan interview – talking his Oscar success, his love of action movies, and where his career goes next – in the 28 Years Later issue, on sale now. Order a copy online here. Love Hurts comes to UK cinemas on 7 February.