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People working in sales need a killer instinct, but not like this. In Love Hurts, Ke Huy Quan’s first feature film since winning an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once, he plays a harmless, do-gooder real estate agent who is sucked back into his old life. A life that involved him being a stone-cold killer. And the first trailer is here.
The directorial debut of JoJo Eusebio, the second unit director of Deadpool 2, Violent Night, and Birds of Prey (among many, many other things), Love Hurts is the latest from 87 North. It’s the company that brought you films like John Wick, Nobody, Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train, and The Fall Guy, which is the exact energy you get in this trailer. Check it out.
Yes, that’s West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose as Rose, the love interest/best friend who plays a key role in Quan’s character leaving the life of crime. The supporting cast also includes Daniel Wu (Warcraft) as the evil brother, football star turned actor Marshawn Lynch (Bottoms), Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage), Lio Tipton (Lucy), Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, Our Flag Means Death), André Eriksen (Violent Night), and even Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings).
Obviously though, this is all about Quan, who seems to almost be channeling his Everything Everywhere character a bit here. Though he appeared in Loki, lent his voice to Kung Fu Panda 4, and will soon appear in the Russo Brothers’ The Electric State, Love Hurts is Quan’s first appearance back on the big screen since winning his Oscar. So that it shares any similarities at all is a bit odd. That unforgettable character was a sad man brought back to life by multiversal versions of himself. This is a man who is hiding his truth in order to live a normal life, but is forced to let it out to save everything.
Then again, Love Hurts lets him be the leading man in a big-time action movie, something he’s never gotten to do before. Something he’s uniquely trained to do, not just because of his acting skills, but his time as a fight and stunt coordinator. In a way, this is a part Quan was born to play. If Eusebio can channel just a bit of that, this could be a very fun way to start of 2025.
Written by Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore, Love Hurts opens only in theaters on February 7. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.
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