Steven Spielberg Convinced Ke Huy Quan to Star in LOVE HURTS After He Turned It Down
It turns out that Ke Huy Quan actually turned down the offer to star in the upcoming action film Love Hurts twice before he was convinced to do it by director Steven Spielberg.
The two worked together on The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Quan didn’t think he had the look of an action hero, and he was feeling self-conscious about taking on the job.
During an interview with Empire, Quan explained: “When I read it, I thought, ‘Wait, this is not for me. Why are you asking me?’ I was so confused.
“I thought it was written for somebody like Jason Statham, because I’ve been conditioned to think that when you have an action star, he needs to look like The Rock or Stallone or Schwarzenegger. I didn’t think anybody that looks like me could star in this role.”
He went on to talk about his conversation with Spielberg, saying: “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. So I was having trouble picking my next project. 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.’ 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. ‘Oh, they’re trying to create a different kind of action hero. Not the type that we’ve seen for decades, but something new.'”
So, when the film’s creators, which includes John Wick stuntman-turned-director Jonathan Eusebio, asked him a third time and this time he accepted.
Quan trained for three months to do all of his own stunts, and said: “But all the punches, all the kicks, I threw myself. Every day, I would soak in a salt bath for half an hour. It was a lot of fun.
“But it was physically so demanding that halfway through the shoot, I told my wife, ‘I don’t think I can do this again.’ Then, when the trailer came out and I saw how great it is, I told her, ‘I can’t wait to do this again.'”
The film comes from the producers of the groundbreaking action films Nobody, Violent Night, Atomic Blonde, The Fall Guyand it’s described as a “visceral, high-octane story of wrath and revenge.”
Quan stars as Marvin Gable, “a realtor working the Milwaukee suburbs, where ‘For Sale’ signs bloom. He receives a crimson envelope from Rose (Ariana DeBose), a former partner-in-crime that he had left for dead. She's not happy.
“Now, Marvin is thrust back into a world of ruthless hitmen, filled with double-crosses and open houses turned into deadly warzones. With his brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu), a volatile crime lord, hunting him, he must confront the choices that haunt him and the history he never truly buried.”
The cast includes Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Rhys Darby, Marshawn Lynch, and André Eriksen.
Love Hurts hits theaters on February 7th.