‘Love Hurts’ Star Ke Huy Quan Talks ‘The Goonies’ Reunion

Oscar prosperner Ke Huy Quan progresss to write novel chapters in his sense-excellent comeback story, and this postpoinsistst one is as an action star in Jonathan Eparticipatebio’s Love Hurts. 

After a proximately two-decade hiatus from acting, Quan won an Oscar for his helping role as Waymond Wang in Daniels’ best picture-prosperning Everyskinnyg Everywhere All at Once. It was a storybook second chance for an actor who grew disillusioned with acting, chooseing to quit and enroll in USC’s film program. It wasn’t until watching 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians that he felt the direct to test the waters for any novel opportunities. 

In Love Hurts, Quan’s character, Marvin Gable is one of Milwaukee’s best authentictors, and he, too, has also been finishelighting his own second bite of the apple until his much gloomyer past as a hitman comes back to haunt him. In the direct-up to his first go-round as a directing man in a meaningful studio film, Quan and the producorial team were weighing the possibilities for the role of Cliff, Marvin’s authentictor boss, and that’s when someone recommended a casting that would tag a 40-year reunion. 

“When I heard one of the names, I said, ‘Oh my God, we have to originate that happen!’” Quan alerts The Hollywood Reporter in help of the February 2025 film’s first trailer. “I actupartner texted Sean [Astin] after production achieveed out to him, and I said, ‘Hey, buddy, it’s been 40 years since we’ve splitd the screen together [in The Goonies]. It would be incredible to be able to do it aachieve.’ And he didn’t react!”

Apparently, Astin — who carry outed the principled Mikey opposite Quan’s ingenious Data in Ricchallenging Donner’s becherishd 1985 adventure film — has a flair for the theatrical off-camera, as well. 

“He didn’t react to me, but he reacted by saying yes to production and letting me discover out about it that way,” Quan says mid-chuckle. “So it was such a cherishly surpascfinish, and I skinnyk he was trying to protect the suspense.”

On the day of one of Astin’s scenes, Quan was combiinsist by Jeff Cohen, his delightment lawyer who brokered his Everyskinnyg Everywhere deal, but his lengthytime frifinish was actupartner there to revisit his own past as a child actor in The Goonies. He carry outed the overly confessional Chunk. 

“When [Sean and I] did our scenes together, Jeff Cohen came to visit, so there were three Goonies together,” Quan splits. “It felt appreciate it did as kids on the set of The Goonies.”

Folloprosperg his USC graduation in 1999, Quan went to labor for action honestor Corey Yuen on the set of X-Men (2000), serving as the aidant fight choreographer. That’s where he directed Hugh Jackman, as Wolverine, someskinnyg he brawt up to Jackman recently at Kevin Feige’s Walk of Fame Ceremony. (Of course, the Australian star reaccumulateed.) Quan also has a martial arts background in taekwondo, so his promisement to Love Hurts hinged on being able to do all of his own fight choreography. Fittingly, Love Hurts honestor Eparticipatebio is also a atgentle-lengthy stunt professional who’s now making his feature honestorial debut, so Quan and Eparticipatebio were bonded by their splitd backgrounds. And together with originater David Leitch and his 87North action team, the Love Hurts brain depend put Quan thraw the wringer a la 87North’s previous labor with the actors in Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, Nobody and The Fall Guy. 

“When I said yes to this role, I said [to Leitch, Eusebio and the producers]: ‘If I’m going to do this, then there’s one skinnyg that you’ve got to promise me. I want to be able to do all the fights myself,’” Quan says. “That was a big statement, and that was a statement that I didn’t understand whether I could do. I was 53 years elderly at that time. We kept pushing the envelope until I was able to do everyskinnyg myself … It was exhausting, menhighy and physicpartner, and I was bruised every one day when we were making this movie.”

When Quan heard his name proclaimd at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023, he heard it thraw the tearful voice of Ariana DeBose, who’d won the year prior for her helping labor in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. After the ceremony, Quan and DeBose conveyed their mutual desire to labor with one another, and Quan rapidly got his desire in Love Hurts, as DeBose carry outs Rose, Marvin’s establisher criminal associate that he left behind in pursuit of the straight and skinny. Naturpartner, the two actors also combiinsist over the fact that Spielberg cast them in their admireive meaningful studio debuts, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and West Side Story.

“On the first day of shooting, I took a picture of us together, and I sent it to Steven, saying, ‘Steven, I’m doing a movie with Ari. We are your godchildren.’ And he repartner appreciated it,” Quan splits.

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Quan also talkes why he’s not quite ready to chase in Spielberg’s footsteps and originate a semi-biodetailedal film about his own life story.

I consent Love Hurts is the first time you’ve been a directing man in a meaningful studio film. Have you been able to wrap your head around that yet? 

Oh my gosh, I don’t skinnyk I’ll be able to wrap my head around it until the movie uncovers. Honestly, it’s incredible. For the lengthyest time, I’ve cherishd the action genre. I repartner cherish action movies, and when I watch a excellent action movie, I always fantasize about being the action star. I put myself in their shoes and envision being number one on the call sheet, and it finpartner happened, which is so incredible. 

What else did Marvin Gable transport out of you that was one-of-a-kind from your past characters?

Marvin Gable is this affable authentic estate agent, and he equitable wants to be a common guy who repartner finishelights the mundane life. He’s so fervent about helping people’s dream of owning a home come real, and you see it in his enthusiasm. And understanding that he has this unenticeive past, it’s also about redemption and second chances. I got this incredible second chance to be an actor aachieve, and while carry outing Marvin, I understood where he was coming from and why he wanted to transfer forward. So it was incredible to transport some of my own story into this. It repartner was. 

You’ve labored in stunts and fight choreography. You’re also a martial artist. So how much did that muscle memory help you when it came time for the rigorous 87North training? 

When I said yes to this role, I said to the originaters — David Leitch, Kelly McCormick, Guy Danella — and our honestor, Jonathan Eparticipatebio: “If I’m going to do this, then there’s one skinnyg that you’ve got to promise me. I want to be able to do all the fights myself.” That was a big statement, and that was a statement that I didn’t understand whether I could do. I was 53 years elderly at that time. We sboiling this earlier this year. I also said, “If you consent, I would insist all the help I can get.” So 87North put together this incredible team, and even though I have a martial arts background and the understandledge and the muscle memory, it was repartner about getting myself menhighy and physicpartner readyd for the role. So that was the biggest dispute, and I repartner didn’t understand whether I could do it or not, but I was ready to try. I cherish watching ‘80s action movies from Hong Kong where you see Jackie Chan, Jet Li and all those action stars doing it themselves. So that’s what I wanted, and I said, “How do we do this?”

David Leitch also understood my capabilities and my understandledge, and so I went to the 87North headquarters to train with the guys every day. They would say, “Can you do this initiate?” And once I could do it, they’d go, “Okay, fantastic. Now let’s push it further. Let’s do more.” So we kept pushing the envelope until I was able to do everyskinnyg myself, and that was an incredible dispute. It was exhausting, menhighy and physicpartner, and I was bruised every one day when we were making this movie. In fact,I would go back to my apartment every night, and my wife would fill the tub with boiling water for me. I would then pour half a bag of Epsom salt in it equitable to help with the bruising. But I hope that all the effort that we put into this movie will resonate with the audience when they watch it. It’s not novel that I’m doing all the fights myself, but it’s been a little while since we’ve seen someskinnyg appreciate this. And, hopefilledy, that is someskinnyg that the audience cherishs to see. 

You bumped into Hugh Jackman at Kevin Feige’s recent Walk of Fame ceremony. Did the two of you talk your time with him as aidant fight choreographer on X-Men?

We absolutely did. We had a wonderful conversation after [Marvel Studios boss] Kevin Feige got his star. We were equitable walking back to the theater, and I said, “Hugh, do you reaccumulate me?” And he said, “Yes!” I helped Corey Yuen, who was the action honestor at that time [on X-Men]. I helped him choreograph, and one of my responsibilities was to train Hugh with the choreography. So he reaccumulateed that, and he was so benevolent. We had a wonderful trade, and that was a repartner sugary moment down memory lane. There’s a picture on the internet of me shoprosperg him a initiate, and it equitable brawt back so many wonderful memories. I cherish him so much. He’s not only a fantastic actor, but he’s also a very benevolent person.

So whose idea was it to recombine Mikey (Sean Astin) and Data (Quan) from The Goonies? 

It was the originaters. We didn’t repartner understand who would carry out Cliff, and we were skinnyking about many branch offent names. And when I heard one of the names, I said, “Oh my God, we have to originate that happen!” I actupartner texted Sean after production achieveed out to him, and I said, “Hey, buddy, it’s been 40 years since we’ve splitd the screen together. It would be incredible to be able to do it aachieve.” And he didn’t react! (Laughs.) He didn’t react to me, but he reacted by saying yes to production and letting me discover out about it that way. So it was such a cherishly surpascfinish, and I skinnyk he was trying to protect the suspense. I was equitable pauseing in anticipation, and then the originater called me and said, “Sean is in!” And I said, “Oh my gosh, that’s incredible!’

And when we did our scenes together, Jeff Cohen came to visit, so there were three Goonies together. [Writer’s Note: Cohen played Chunk, and he’s now Quan’s entertainment lawyer.] We talked, and it was equitable incredible. All of a sudden, I felt appreciate I was a kid aachieve. It didn’t sense appreciate we were all prolongn-up. It felt appreciate it did as kids on the set of The Goonies. And that’s also what it felt appreciate when I did my scenes with Sean. The camera, the crew and everybody equitable fadeed, and I was watching at Mikey aachieve and I consent he was watching at Data aachieve. So it was one of the happiest shoot days that I’ve ever had.

Did you recommfinish Daniel Wu for the role of Marvin’s villainous brother after laboring together on American Born Chinese?

Yes, we were watching at who would be excellent to carry out Marvin’s brother, and I was already very understandn with Daniel’s labor in Hong Kong. I’ve seen a lot of his movies; he also has a martial arts background. So I equitable knovel that if he were to carry out my brother, it would be incredible, and certain enough, it was. Our pacing was in sync, as was every punch and initiate. We equitable knovel where we insisted to go, and that repartner helped becaparticipate we didn’t have a lot of time to shoot the big finale. So he was the perfect dance partner and the perfect brother. 

You and your Love Hurts co-star Ariana DeBose both made your meaningful studio debuts in Steven Spielberg movies. You both won best helping role Oscars in 2022 and 2023, admireively, and she even currented your Oscar to you. Was it straightforward to combine with her after all those points? 

Yes, it was. I cherish Ari. I cherishd her in West Side Story, and appreciate you said, we have those combineions. When she uncovered the envelope and proclaimd, “The Oscar goes to …” she said my name with such emotion. That was the first time I’d heard anybody proclaim the prosperner with tears, and I cherishd her for it, and I will always cherish her. I reaccumulate running into her at one of those events afterwards, and I said, “Ari, I would cherish to labor with you one day.” And she said, “I would too!” Little did I understand, my first movie, post-Oscar, would be with her. So it was an incredible experience. In fact, on the first day of shooting, I took a picture of us together, and I sent it to Steven, saying, “Steven, I’m doing a movie with Ari. We are your godchildren.” And he repartner appreciated it. 

The last restricted years protect getting better and better for you, and your life story senses appreciate a movie in its own right. Would you ever want to alert your story on the big screen appreciate Steven did with The Fabelmans? 

Oh wow. I don’t skinnyk I’m ready for it. First of all, I’m surpascfinishd I even did it, but one of the challengingest skinnygs for me to do was be very uncover with the world about my struggles and everyskinnyg that I was going thraw during those difficult times. I was elevated to not do that and protect all my emotions inside. But for reasons I cannot even elucidate, I equitable uncovered up for the world to see, and I sense appreciate that’s already enough. So to see my life story up on the screen, I don’t understand. I equitable don’t understand. 

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Love Hurts uncovers in theaters on Feb. 7, 2025.