[Video] Ke Huy Quan Thinks He Would Make A Good Real-Estate Agent Like His Character In Love Hurts

In the action flick Love Hurts, Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Ke Huy Quan, plays Marvin Gable, a retired hitman making a fresh start as a real-estate agent in the suburbs. But when a one-time associate (West Side Story’s Ariana Debose) turns up out of the blue, Marvin is forced to drop his meek façade and unleash his fists of fury as he confront his criminal past, including an unforgiving brother Alvin aka ‘Knuckles’ (Daniel Wu). The movie hails from 87North, the producers of Nobody, Violent Night, Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde and The Fall Guy , marks the directorial debut of John Wick stunt extraordinaire Jonathan Eusebio.

Ke is no stranger to action; he had the first taste, when he was 12, in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a gig which scored him a part in another 1980s classic, the Spielberg-produced The Goonies. As an adult actor, he starred in two indies — which I didn’t even know existed until I ran a check on IMDB —1991’s Breathing Fire and 1997’s Red Pirate. And when the roles dried up, Ke retreated to behind-the-scenes work as stunt coordinator (2000’s X-Men, 2001’s The One) and assistant director (Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046).

Inspired by the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Ke thought he would give acting another go, starting with the Goonies-esque Netflix adventure Finding ‘Ohana, and the Michelle Yeoh-led mind-bending sci-fi Everything Everywhere All at Once which went on to nab seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and a Best Supporting Actor for Ke.

Post-Everywhere Everything, Ke appeared in Loki, American Born Chinese  and Kungfu Panda 4. And this month, Ke-naissance reaches new heights with Love Hurts , Ke’s first leading role in the US. And it’s a role which Ke almost passed on had his mentor Steven Spielberg not talked him out of it.

Speaking to Empire, Ke said, “[Spielberg] was asking me, ‘Ke, how are you doing? I said, ‘Steven, I’m not doing well.’ Because of all the love and support that I had gotten during the 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.”

At 83 minutes long, Love Hurts moves along fast and furious, with enough of a clothesline plot to hang a few  fancy Jackie Chan-flavoured fights (think his output from the 1980s and early half of the ’90s). Between the bouts, there’s some unexpected levity (courtesy of The Flight of the Concords’ Rhys Darby) and a gift for Goonies fans (holy smoke, Sean Astin!).

8days.sg recently sat down with Ke and Wu over Zoom and talk about their much-talked about face-off and if they are wired to be real-estate agents in real life.

Love Hurts (NC16) is now in cinemas.

Watch more exclusive 8days.sg interviews on Mediacorp YouTube Channel and mewatch.

Photo: UIP