Director: Ke Huy Quan's Oscar Attachment Inspired Epic 'Love Hurts' Stunts

1 of 5 | Marshawn Lynch (L) and Ke Huy Quan star in “Love Hurts,” opening in theaters on Friday. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

NEW YORK, Feb. 6 (UPI) — Director Jonathan Eusebio says Ke Huy Quan’s emotional attachment to his hard-won Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar inspired an epic Love Hurts fight scene in which Quan’s character risks his life to protect his “real estate agent of the year” award.

Opening Friday in theaters, the action-comedy-romance follows Marvin (Quan), an enthusiastic home-seller whose past as a martial arts expert/hit man for his gangster brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu) comes back to haunt him after his former flame Rose (Ariana DeBose) tracks him down, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“We had several writing meetings with Ke and he was talking about how, when he first won the Oscar, he wouldn’t let go of that Oscar for days because it represented making it back and him holding onto this life,” Eusebio told UPI about the beloved former child star in a recent phone interview.

“The certificate that Marvin gets is representative of this new life he wants to hold on to as much as he can. So, it helped push the narrative in the fight and gave us an interesting take on a story point throughout the movie.”

One of the reasons DeBose was cast in the role of Marvin’s long-lost love was because of the chemistry she and Quan exhibited when she presented him with his Best Supporting Actor statuette at the 2023 Oscars a year after she took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for West Side Story.

“The relationship between Marvin and Rose really drives the movie,” Eusebio said.

“So, I thought it was very important for Ke to have a love interest that people are rooting for and there’s a genuine, authentic love in the air, a bond,” he added.

“Ke brought [her] up to me and I watched their interaction when she presented him his Oscar, and I thought, ‘That’s what you want to show on screen.’ Ke brought her up to me and I knew right away that was Rose.”

As the cameras started rolling, Eusebio was relieved to see Quan was every bit the affable and energetic man he appears to be in interviews and on awards-show stages.

“He’s such a great, gracious and supportive collaborative partner,” Eusebio said.

The ensemble also includes Marshawn Lynch, Mustafa Shakir and Andre Eriksen as thugs sent to drag Marvin back to Knuckles.

Quan’s one-time Goonies co-star Sean Astin plays Marvin’s real-estate mentor, while America’s Top Model alum Lio Tipton plays Marvin’s jaded assistant, who falls in love with one of the men sent to kill him, and Our Flag Means Death alum Rhys Darby plays a tortured underling who gets caught double-crossing Knuckles.

“I was very lucky,” Eusebio said about his cast.

“As a first-time director, to direct this caliber of performers is more than I could have asked for,” he added. “They’re so invested in their characters and they owned it.”

Asked about the endless brutality he subjected Darby to, Eusebio laughed and said: “Oh, my God! We stuck him in this trunk and he’s like two times bigger than the trunk. I don’t even know how he fit in there. He’s such a good sport and he’s a really funny guy. It was really a pleasure having him on set.”

The abuse Darby’s and Astin’s characters suffer at the hands of Knuckles’ minions was important to the story, Eusebio emphasized.

“It makes the audience feel for Marvin more and hate Knuckles more, so it is a necessary evil,” he added.

One of Hollywood’s most talented and well respected stunt coordinators and second unit directors, Eusebio makes his feature film directorial debut with Love Hurts.

“I wanted something that kind of set me apart from my my peers. So, the action, the comedy and the romance allowed me to kind of spread my wings out as a director,” he said.

Independently helming a film that juxtaposes a traditionally cheerful holiday with murder and mayhem seemed natural to Eusebio after he previously choreographed fights on the Christmas-themed Violent Night.

“We’ve never had an action movie on Valentine’s Day,” he declared.

“I wanted to show through all the relationships throughout the movie that love is not just romantic love,” he added. “There’s love between brothers. There’s familiar love. There’s new love. But, I think the most important lesson I want to show, is self-love is the highest because, unless you can really love yourself, you can’t really love others.”

Another high point of the film is the Goonies reunion between Quan and Astin, who have been real-life friends for more than 40 years.

“Even though, [Astin’s character is] only in a few scenes, his presence lingers throughout the movie, so we always thought it was important to have someone that Ke had a really good bond with. I talked to Ke about it and he was like, ‘You should ask Sean!’ As soon as I heard that I was like: ‘Goonies reunion. Everyone will go crazy!'” Eusebio said.

“You can see the genuine love they have for each other,” he added. “They’re like brothers. So, it comes out like that on screen.”