No matter how hard you try, you can’t break up with your past.
This Valentine’s Day, Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan rockets into his first major leading man role as an unlikely hero, a seemingly mild-mannered realtor with a dark secret that he is desperate to leave behind. Spoiler alert: He won’t.
From 87North producers of the groundbreaking action films Nobody, Violent Night, Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde and The Fall Guy, comes Love Hurts, a visceral, high-octane story of wrath and revenge starring Quan as Marvin Gable, a realtor working the Milwaukee suburbs, where ‘For Sale’ signs bloom. When Gable receives a crimson envelope from Rose (Oscar winner Ariana DeBose), a former partner-in-crime that he had left for dead, he’s 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, Marvin must confront the choices that haunt him and the history he never truly buried.
To coincide with the release of Love Hurts‘ first action-packed trailer, Peter Gray spoke with newly minted leading man Ke Huy Quan to talk about his new garnered position as a power player, the emotional resonance of second chances, and why he’s glad they didn’t call Jason Statham to take on this particular action excursion.
I was speaking to Jonathan before, and he was saying that you were the reason this movie got made. How does it feel to be at this stage in your career where you have the power to get films off the ground off your name alone?
You know, to this day, it still blows me away. I remember when I first read the script, I loved it, but I was very confused as to why they would offer me the role. I thought it was written for someone else. In fact, I even told the producers, “You have the wrong guy! You should be calling Jason Statham. He’d love to do this.” They told me that they thought I would be perfect for it, and they brought me in to tell me why.
I met with the producers and JoJo (Jonathan Eusebio), and they told me that they were trying to create a different type of action star. An action star that is, one, not afraid to show his emotions, and, two, an action star that doesn’t look like a badass. He doesn’t need anyone to know he’s a badass, and we only know he’s a badass when the situation calls for it. I thought, “Wow, that’s so refreshing.” Especially for someone who looks like me. I was instantly intrigued by that idea, and one of the first things I did was tell them that I wanted to do all the fights myself.
I grew up watching the Hong Kong action movies. The Jackie Chan (movies), Jet Li, Sammo Hung. And audiences are too smart and sophisticated these days, because they can tell when it’s a stunt double. But when they see that it’s all me up there, then they’ll know there’s a lot at stake and, hopefully, they’ll have the same feeling I had when I watched those Hong Kong movies I did as a kid.
I knew I needed a lot of help though, and 87North (Productions) put together this incredible action team, and we trained for 3 months before the movie started. And that training didn’t end when the movie started, it carried all the way through to the end. But, you know, even though I said all this, I still didn’t know if I could deliver (laughs). There’s a lot riding on this. It’s my first movie as the lead actor in a major studio motion picture. And when they told me that if I was attached the movie would be greenlit, I thought that it couldn’t be true. Are you telling me I can get a movie greenlit? Just that alone was something I never thought I would ever hear in my entire life. I’m so glad they didn’t call Jason Statham (laughs).
Jonathan was also saying how much of a light and positive force you were on set. It’s so beautiful to hear about someone leading with kindness.
You know, I don’t know what my next year looks like. And one of the great lines, and it’s from Spider-Man, you know, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” And before I was ever Number 1 on the call sheet, I would watch and learn from the Number 1. You know, Harrison Ford, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Yeoh…when they come to the set, they set the mood. If they do it right, and I’ve seen them do it over and over again, they really inspire the entire cast and crew, and they motivate them to do their best. And if they approach it like we’re all a family, they’ll give their best work.
I’ve seen it. Harrison Ford did that. Steven (Spielberg) did that. You know, especially Tom Hiddleston. That was the last time I was on a set, when we did Loki, and I saw how he was every single day. He was the first to show up and he was the last to leave. He greets everyone. Gives them a big hug, a big smile, and he’s always so encouraging.
One of the moments on this movie, and it was really heartwarming for me, when we wrapped, and I was so grateful to everyone because this was a difficult shoot, we tried to accomplish so much in such a short period of time, and it’s never easy to make an action movie. So, to thank everyone, my wife and I in collaboration with the props department, we wanted to think of something to give to the entire cast and crew. In the movie, my character wears a messenger bag, so I thought, “Let’s get everyone a messenger bag with the movie title embroidered.” And I wanted to know how many people there were, and I was told that there was 400 in total. I was told that I didn’t need to get all 400, but I knew that if everyone was getting a gift, everyone was getting a gift.
I’ll never forget this moment. A member of the stunt team, who had only worked on the film for 1 week, he came up to us, and he had been crying, and he told us that out of all the 20 movies he’s worked on, he’s never felt like a member of the family. Because we gave him that bag, he felt important. That means so much to me. I don’t know what’s going to happen with this movie, but the love we have for this movie, and that’s why it was originally called With Love, because it was done with such love. And that one little moment…if I’m ever Number 1 on the call sheet again, I will make sure everyone feels the way that guy felt.
It’s amazing that the smallest thing can mean so much.
Yeah, I didn’t think a gesture such as that would mean so much, would travel that far.
Going off that, I feel like these movies are so driven by action, but it can so often be the quieter moments that make the most impact. Was there an unscripted moment or a personal moment that you feel most proud of?
That’s a great question. I’ll tell you what I’m most proud of, but it’s not one specific moment. From the very beginning, we knew that we had a big challenge with the amount of shooting days we had, which was 36. 36 days and 5 epic fight sequences. That’s almost an impossible task. And the first sequence we filmed, which was the kitchen fight with Marshawn Lynch, it was very hard for us to do. The floor was very slippery. And that’s dangerous and difficult to film when you’re trying to find your footing. And after a few takes, JoJo knew that he needed to move on. And I told him that we can’t compromise.
If he was simply moving on because we had no time, I wanted to challenge that. I told them “No compromise.” And they agreed. I would look at the action team every time they would say “We got it.” I was like, “You got it? No compromise?” And they would yell back, “No compromise!” That was the phrase we would repeat over and over again, that it got to the point at the end of the shoot the action team got everyone shirts that said “No Compromise!” (Laughs).
And this isn’t just on my part, but it’s everyone. This was such a demanding shoot, and everyone came through for us, and that’s why I could not be more grateful to every single (person).
And when it cones to the outlandishness of the situation, is there a throughline for you in terms of finding a sense of reality with the character?
You know, it’s always tricky for me when I do a movie. When you audition for a movie and you get the part, you know that your take on the character is right. For this particular movie, I didn’t audition, this role was offered to me. So then when I get on set, I wasn’t sure if my take on the character was the same as JoJo’s, our director. I was constantly wondering if we were on the same page. But it was a wonderful collaboration.
Normally, it takes me a little while to find the character. With (Love Hurts), not only was I finding the character, I was making sure the action delivered. I was balancing two acts at the same time. I understand this character well though, because it’s about redemption and second chances. When you talk about second chances…boy, did I get a second chance. That is something I can really relate to.
Love Hurts is scheduled for release in Australian theatres on February 6th, 2025.
