[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Love Hurts.]

The Big Picture

The upcoming movie ‘Love Hurts,’ out in theaters on February 7, 2025, is a blend of romantic comedy and action that’s perfect for Valentine’s season.
Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan trained extensively to do his own fights in the story about a real estate agent faced with a past he left behind.
Quan aims to redefine the concept of being a badass and has always dreamed of being an action star.

Part action flick and part romantic comedy, the upcoming Love Hurts tells the tale of overachieving real estate agent Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) in the suburbs who receives a mysterious envelope from his former partner-in-crime Rose (Ariana DeBose). But when you have a crime lord brother (Daniel Wu) in a world of hitmen, the past will not stay buried and life comes back at you fast.

After checking out the trailer, Collider got the opportunity to chat one-on-one with Quan about fulfilling his dream of becoming an action star, his love of eighties action movies from Hong Kong, telling a story about a different kind of badass, being determined to do all his own fight scenes, never wanting to compromise, what made DeBose the perfect co-star, and how proud he is of what he was able to accomplish. He also told a fun story about surprising his family at D23 with another upcoming role.

Ke Huy Quan Insisted on Training and Doing All His Own Fights for ‘Love Hurts’
Image via Universal Studios

Collider: This is the kind of movie that feels like it would be so much fun to see in a theater, because it has a great cast, and it seems like you’ll have laughs and action.

KE HUY QUAN: I’m so glad you said that. I grew up loving action movies, and I remember when I was a kid, I would watch a trailer and go, “Oh, my God, that seems like such a fun movie.” I would go and just have a good time for 90 minutes. There was no agenda, there was no message, nothing. It was just to escape reality for 90 minutes. And that’s what we want this movie to be. We’re not trying to do anything but entertain [people] for that period of time. So, I’m so glad you like the trailer. When I said yes to this, one of the things that I told (producer) David Leitch and our director (Jonathan Eusebio) was that I wanted to do all the fights myself. Every punch, every kick, I want the audience to see and go, “Oh, my gosh, that is Ke Huy Quan doing all of that himself.” We trained really hard for it. We have an incredible action team from 87North.

Did you ever regret saying that you wanted to do it all yourself?

QUAN: I had this conversation with Michelle Yeoh before I did it. My wife, Echo, knows I’m gonna do everything. She was there with me for the training. She’s good friends with Michelle, and Michelle asked, “How’s Ke doing?” And she said, “Oh, my God, he’s training really hard for this movie. He’s so adamant that he wants to do everything.” And Michelle said, “Can you please tell him not to do that? Let the stunt double do the hard stuff.” She was so lovely. She was really caring. She cares a lot about me, and I love Michelle for it. But I was adamant that I wanted to do it because I love the action movies from Hong Kong in the eighties, where you can clearly see it’s Jackie Chan or Jet Li doing those fights. There’s something really special when the audience can see that there are real stakes to it. So, I hope the audience appreciates what we’re trying to give them.

28:19 Related ‘The Fall Guy’s David Leitch Discusses Practical Stunts & Ke Huy Quan Becoming an Action Star in ‘With Love’ [Exclusive] Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick also discuss finding out Steven Spielberg loved the film and give updates on ‘Nobody 2’ & ‘Violent Night 2.’

What was it like to train with 87North? Do they really put you through it, just in the training process, before you ever get to the actual filming?

QUAN: Oh, yeah, it was hard. There was a lot of weight training, a lot of core training, a lot of stretching. That’s a really important part of it. I know martial arts. I know the language and I know a lot of the moves, but I haven’t done them in a long, long time. It was really about getting myself mentally to be in that shape again, and then physically too. A lot of it was just trying to get that muscle memory to come back. I’m very proud that we were able to do it. I was very well taken care of by the 87North action team. I used to be in their position. When I was working as an actor/choreographer, I would also train actors to throw punches and kicks and teach them how to look good doing it on screen without getting themselves hurt. It was really advantageous to have that knowledge and to put it all in this movie.

Was there a sequence that made you nervous before shooting it? Did they all make you nervous, or did you feel prepared because you had that time with 87North?

QUAN: I did have a lot of preparation time, more than three months. In fact, my training didn’t stop when we started production. It lasted throughout the entire production. I knew, mentally and physically, I was well prepared for it. But we were shooting 15, 16, sometimes 18 hours a day, and when you’re doing a fight scene, it takes tremendous focus to make sure you don’t hurt the actor you’re fighting with and you don’t get hurt by them. That was the big challenge. Because of the time constraints, I told our action team and our director, “Can we please not compromise? This is an 87North movie. Audiences will be expecting a certain level and a certain kind of action, and I don’t want to disappoint them. So, if you don’t have the shot, please don’t move on.” And that’s exactly what we did. In fact, our action team made a shirt for everybody that said, “No compromise.”

Ke Huy Quan Wants To Redefine What It Means To Be a Badass With ‘Love Hurts’

One of the things that your recent success and attention provides is new opportunities. Is this the kind of film you’ve always wanted to do? As a kid, did you picture yourself in those movies as an action star?

QUAN: If I say no, that’s a lie. I loved the action movie that came out of Hollywood, with Schwarzenegger and Stallone and Steven Seagal, and then later with Jason Statham. At the same time, I was also very addicted to Hong Kong action movies, with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen. Every time I would watch those movies, having that martial arts background, I always fantasized being in that role in their position, especially being the leading man. I never thought I would ever have this opportunity because if you go back and watch this genre, a lot of action stars don’t look like me. They look like The Rock, with biceps bigger than my head. It’s quite refreshing to see a different kind of action star. David Leitch and everybody at Universal wanted to make something that was very different than what audiences have been accustomed to. A badass doesn’t have to look like a badass. He or she doesn’t need anyone to think they’re a badass until the situation calls for it. I’ve been thinking a lot about our movie, and I hope people will not only enjoy our movie, but afterwards go, “Wow, I didn’t expect Ke to be that badass.” If we were to expand the definition of what a badass means and we can get past physical ability, you will find that there are a lot of badasses in our lives. My parents are badasses, with the sacrifices that they made to get us all here. I find that a lot of teachers are badasses. Hopefully, we can view what badass means in a new light.

That’s why a movie like Nobody and what Bob Odenkirk did in that was so successful. It was also very unexpected.

QUAN: Oh, yeah, I love that movie. When the bad guys broke into the house and he looked like a coward in front of his kid, that was so heartbreaking to see, when you know that he just chose not to fight. He is the ultimate badass. When you can step away from a fight, that’s great.

Related ‘Love Hurts’ Director Says Ke Huy Quan Went All-Out For the Fight Scenes Director Jonathan Eusebio also talks about how, among the action, the February 7, 2025 release is a romantic Valentine’s Day-themed movie about love.

We see that this woman comes back into your character’s life. What was it like to find that relationship and to work with Ariana DeBose?

QUAN: I think we have great chemistry on the screen and that really stems from the fact that we have mutual admiration and respect for one another. I’ve loved Ariana from the moment she opened that envelope and announced my name with such emotion on Oscar night. And I remember going up to her and giving her a big hug. I said, “One day, I would love to work with you.” Little did I know that my next movie, post-Oscar, would be this and that dream came true. She’s so wonderful and she brings a lot to this character, Rose. And what I love about Rose is that she’s also a real badass too. She’s a very strong-minded woman, very similar to how I grew up in my household. I grew up with seven very strong-minded women in my family. I had a great time working with her. She’s lovely, and I hope we get to do more.

Was there something that most surprised you about what making this movie ultimately turned out to be?

QUAN: From day one, I knew what kind of movie we wanted to make and who it’s for, so there was no surprise in that. But there were a lot of challenges. We have five epic fight sequences in the movie. Given the time constraints, we had to figure out how to deliver on that and choreograph each fight so that it would have its own story. It’s the type of genre that I love making and I love watching, and it really turned out better than I could have possibly hoped. And I’m very proud of all the actors. Everybody from Ariana DeBose, who threw her first onscreen punch in this movie, to Daniel Wu, to Marshawn Lynch, and all the actors, did their own fights. We didn’t do our own stunts because that’s very different. Stunts, to me, are falling off a building, getting hit by a car, or being set on fire. That’s a very special skill. But in terms of fights, I’m very proud of all the actors in this movie because they trained very hard to make it look good.

I would see this movie just to see Ariana DeBose throw that punch.

QUAN: She is awesome. I was surprised when I said, “Wait, you’ve never thrown a punch before?” She said, “No.” And she threw it with such vigor and power and precision. I was watching behind the monitor the whole time and she got an inch from the actor’s face. I kept telling her, “Ari, you’re way too close! Bring it back! Bring it back!” And she went, “No!” She was just so determined to sell that punch. You’ll see it in the movie.

Ke Huy Quan Explains Why ‘Love Hurts’ Is the Perfect Valentine’s Movie
Image via Universal Studios

Is the goal to make more than one movie if this is successful? Is that something that you’ve discussed as a possibility? Is it something you’d like to see happen with this character?

QUAN: Oh, I haven’t gotten that far. I try not to allow myself to get ahead of myself. I’m very grateful to Universal Studios for giving me this opportunity and for making me a leading man in a major studio picture. It’s so awesome that David Leitch and all the producers on this movie are willing to challenge the status quo and go, “We want to do something different.” That’s really cool. I hope it really resonates with the audience. Honestly, we made this movie for the audience who love this genre, the action genre. It’s a Valentine’s movie that comes out one week before Valentine’s. We have a lot of romantic comedy in it, and it’s a kick-ass Valentine’s movie. It’s a great movie to take your date, your girlfriend, or your friends to go and watch it and share that experience with everybody. That’s how I grew up, and that’s why I love making movies. I’m very proud of it.

Related 10 Best Ke Huy Quan Movies and TV Shows, Ranked By IMDb One of 2022’s most remarkable and celebrated comebacks.

I was at the D23 Expo when it got announced that you were doing a voice for Zootopia 2. Zootopia is one of my favorite movies, so I was very excited to hear that.

QUAN: Thank you. What was great was that my family flew down from Houston, Texas. That’s how much they love that event. And I was able to get them to tickets to go, but I didn’t tell them that there was gonna be an announcement. They were in the audience when they heard it and saw it. They texted me right away and they were so happy. They were like, “Oh, my God, Uncle Ke, you didn’t tell us this.” I said, “Because you guys were gonna be there. I don’t need to tell you.” They were genuinely happy and surprised.

Love Hurts is out in theaters on February 7, 2025. Check out the trailer: