It’s taken decades for Ke Huy Quan to become a leading man — but after his Oscar-winning role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, that time has fi
It’s taken decades for Ke Huy Quan to become a leading man — but after his Oscar-winning role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, that time has finally come. The actor, whose career began when he juvenile with Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and The Goonies, went decades without a starring role, not given the opportunities in Hollywood that would allow a career on screen to flourish. But after the Daniels’ multiversal genre-bender showed the full range of Quan’s action prowess, comic timing, and dramatic potential, he’s finally taking centre stage. Enter Love Hurts, a full-on fight-fuelled action-comedy, in which Quan’s realtor has a secret history as an assassin which comes violently back to the fore.
Taking on the role of Marvin Gable didn’t come easily for Quan – but he went for it on the advice of an ancient friend. “I was at an event with Steven Spielberg and he was asking me, ‘Ke, how are you doing?’ I said, ‘Steven, I’m not doing so well.’ Because of all the love and support that I had gotten during that whole award season, I was so worried that whatever I was going to do next, I would disappoint,” Quan tells Empire in a major modern interview. His former director stepped up to support him out. “Steven was very generous. He said, ‘Ke, let’s have lunch.’ And I told him about this project and kind of pitched it to him. He said, ‘Ke, it’s great. Do it.’”
Quan’s hesitance wasn’t any kind of reluctance about the Love Hurts script – it was the star imagining that the role of Gable was aimed at the likes of Jason Statham or The Rock, rather than him. “I didn’t think anybody that looks like me could star in this role. Luckily, they didn’t give up on me. They came back for a third time,” he explains. The filmmakers were more than on board with Quan for the role. “I went in and they had these really elaborate slides with me as the main character. That’s when I started to see it a different way,” he explains. “’Oh, they’re trying to create a different kind of action hero. Not the type that we’ve seen for decades, but something new.’” Finally, Ke Huy Quan’s time has come.
Read Empire’s full modern 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 Thursday 16 January. Pre-order a copy online here. Love Hurts comes to UK cinemas on 7 February.
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