Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan says he almost turned down the lead role in new action film Love Hurts because he didn’t think he looked the part.
The Everything Everywhere All at Once star plays Marvin Gable, an assassin-turned-realtor who finds himself pulled back into his life as a hitman while his crime lord brother hunts him down.
But Quan had some preconceptions about what the lead in such an action comedy should look like, and didn’t think he fit the bill.
“I remember when [Love Hurts] was first offered to me, there was one thing that kept me back,” he said in an interview on NPR. “As much as I loved the script, I didn't think I was right for it. I just couldn't see myself as Marvin Gable.”
He explained that “decades” of conditioning had created an image in his mind of the kind of person who should play the role.
“I've been conditioned for decades to think that an action star needs to look a certain way,” he continued.
“They need to look like Schwarzenegger or Stallone or Jason Statham. Or, you know, Steven Seagal. Anybody. All those types but me.
“Then I realised very quickly that they were trying to create a different type of action hero. They were trying to change the status quo. And I just love that idea.”
In a trailer for the movie, actor Marshawn Lynch, who plays the character of King, is seen saying: “I thought a has-been killer like yourself would be scarier.”
Quan has admitted that he has struggled to find work since the success of the absurdist drama that won him an Oscar in 2023, and lost his health insurance as a result. The Vietnamese star has previously said he found it hard winning roles after his early success as a child star in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies.
The actor blamed himself for the dearth of opportunities at the time saying: “I was taught never to blame anybody. If something doesn’t go the way you want, it’s either because you didn’t work hard enough, you weren’t good enough or you didn’t try hard enough.”
He added: “So when I couldn’t get a job, I blamed myself: I thought I wasn’t tall enough, I wasn’t good-looking enough, or I wasn’t a good enough actor because I wasn’t classically trained. I never blamed anybody – even to this day.”
Love Hurts is out in cinemas now.
