New action comedy Love Hurts may be from the team behind Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde and the John Wick franchise, but it’s closer to “Hong Kong movies from the ’80s” than any modern day blockbuster, says star Ke Huy Quan.
“From the very beginning, we were very in sync on what kind of movie we wanted to make. Everybody involved loves, and grew up watching, the Hong Kong ’80s action movies, especially the ones that came from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung,” the Oscar winner tells GamesRadar+, citing Dragons Forever, Winners & Sinners, and Project A as more direct influences.
“What was really special about those movies is that you can clearly see it’s the actors doing all the fighting. We wanted to pay homage to that, but I also just wanted to do all the fights myself. In order to get me ready, 87North [Productions] got together this amazing action team and they trained me for 3 months and it was a tough 3 months, because even though I knew the moves, it was about getting my body in shape. It was very physically demanding.”
Also starring the likes of Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, and Quan’s The Goonies co-star Sean Astin, Love Hurts centers on Marvin Gable, a mild-mannered, hard-working realtor who’s more likely to toss you a homemade cookie than throw a punch. His peaceful life is upended, though, when an old acquaintance of his suddenly reenters his life. Not only does he have a romantic history with Rose (DeBose), she has a complicated past involving Marvin’s mobster brother Knuckles – and now the latter knows she’s back in town, he’ll stop at nothing to find her. Even if he has to kill Marvin to get to her…
“A lot of the Jackie Chan movies are very creative. He loves using stuff, just ordinary stuff that you would find in your kitchen or your home, and using it as a weapon,” smiles Quan. “So when I saw [these fights that included] pencils and cookie cutters, I was like, ‘Yes! This is exciting.’
“With Love Hurts, we’re not trying to do something new, but it has been a long time since audiences have seen something like this. Hopefully those who haven’t grown up on those movies will find it new and exciting and those who did will get to feel like kids again.”
Love Hurts releases in cinemas on February 7. For more, check out our picks of the best action movies of all time.