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, and director Jonathan Eusebio 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 Jonathan about his move from action choreographer to director, how he makes sure his actors are capable on screen, and the piece of advice that has stuck with him going into his career phase as a filmmaker.
When it comes to these types of films, do you have an approach to the action that informs the story as much as it excites the audience?
First off, you always have to make sure that the action scene advances the story. I always approach it with, “How has this character changed from the start of this fight sequence to the end?” Once I have that motivation, the fights all depend on the set and what are the action capabilities of my cast. All of these factors come into play.
I was going to ask about those action capabilities, because you will have some actors that are comfortable in the action space, but do you have a technique, or a secret sauce, when it comes to making actors feel or look confident who perhaps aren’t as fluent with action?
I mean, I don’t think there’s a secret sauce. If there was it’s that you just have to train them. They’re not just honing the physical moves, they have to feel what this character is feeling. Doing action moves that aren’t familiar to them kind of juxtaposes the emotional necessities of their character. You have to make it look natural. I have to make it look as if this character has been able to do this for 20 years, when in actuality I’ve only had a few months for the actor or actress to do it. I know the choreography, so it comes down to them learning the mechanics, and that’s something that we run with drills.
Has there been an actor or actress you’ve worked with that surprised you with just how capable they were within the genre?
Oh, my gosh. You know, I will say that everyone I have trained over the years have exceeded my expectations. I think the actors come in thinking they have to be intense to make these characters believable. Not just on the emotional side of things, but on the physical. So everyone that I train kind of goes above and beyond in melding the physical and the emotional together.
For an example, I did the training for Iron Man 2, and I worked with Scarlett Johansson. She told me that she had only done one physical movie before that, so it was like teaching her from scratch. But look at her now. She’s like the archetype for female superheroes. So many of them fight like Black Widow. She’s the John Wick of female superheroes (laughs).
With the films you’ve worked on, the action is being tailored to that director’s vision. When it’s your film, are you a bit like a kid in a candy store because you get to direct and choreograph?
(Laughs) I do have that, but, at the same time, I’m going into a new phase of my career. I look at it as getting the spot you’re meant to get to, but you don’t really know what that is until you’re there. So, yeah, there were times I felt like a kid in a candy store, but there’s a lot of pressure on me too. I always want to do better. I want to do things I haven’t done yet. I want to make the audience feel uplifted or inspired by the action that I’m making. I just want to keep that machine going.
Is there a style of fighting that you want to explore further?
The thing with fighting styles is, because of social media, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, you’re exposed to so many things. All the martial arts, which was supposed to be technically secret, everything’s online now. There’s not necessarily a particular style that I want to do, it’s more about looking at the script and breaking it down and asking “Why is this person fighting like this?” There’s so many facets with the character, so it has to make sense why that (character) does it. I’m not going out fishing for a style. It’s about what’s on the page. A lot of it is character dependent.
I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with both David Leitch and Kelly McCormick from 87North, and they’re the loveliest people, so it’s always got to feel nice having them backing you. But was there any specific director or even a director’s advice that stuck with you in terms of giving you the confidence to move into the field yourself?
I was brought up under Dave (Leitch), and he really is like a big brother. And being able to collaborate with (him and Kelly) was really helpful. I always remember being told, “Don’t worry about the moves. Worry about the moments.” That’s what stayed in my head. I’ve been fortunate to work under many directors over the years, and I always take at least one thing away from them.
And in regards to film, was there any that inspired you growing up?
Ooh, I mean, as a kid I grew up watching Bruce Lee and the heavy Hong Kong wave of the 1980s. Young Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. All the action movies of the 80s. They really shaped my sensibility as to how I saw action.
When it comes to Love Hurts, was there any defining moment in the script that you read where you knew this was going to be your debut movie as a director?
I really like the character of Marvin. I loved the premise, and when Ke (Huy Quan) was coming up in the awards season, and you’re watching him give all these uplifting speeches, and just his energy, I knew he was the guy for this. Ke’s what got this movie going.
And next to Ke you have Ariana DeBose. Did you find that her background as a dancer made it even easier for her to learn the action choreography here?
Yeah, oh yeah. Movie fighting and fighting in real life are very different. Movie fighting has a lot more in common with dance choreography. If you watch musicals from the 50s and 60s, you’ll see that they are doing these very physical routines in long, one take stretches. They’re playing for the camera, and that’s what we’re trying to do with fighting.
Love Hurts is scheduled for release in Australian theatres on February 6th, 2025.
