It's a Goonies Reunion! Original Stars Reunite with Love Hurts Star Ke Huy Quan (PICS)
The Goonies never say die, and they always show up to support their friends.
Academy Award winner and Love Hurts star Ke Huy Quan's first blockbuster appearance was way back in 1984, in Steven Spielberg’s action-adventure classic, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where he played Indie’s sidekick, Short Round. A year later he played everyone’s favorite adolescent inventor, Data, in one of the decade's most beloved films, The Goonies. Then Hollywood, forever fickle, kind of forgot about Quan.
He had a handful of credits between 1985 and 2002, including a brief reunion with fellow Goony Sean Astin on the set of 1992’s Encino Man. Then he disappeared from the the screen (at least the front of it) entirely for nearly two decades. Quan returned triumphantly in 2022 as Waymond Wang in the multidimensional adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once, for which he was awarded the Oscar for best supporting actor.
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Since then, Quan’s dance card has been pretty full, including this weekend's big release, Love Hurts (get tickets here). All of which has led up to Monday's appearance at the TCL (formerly Grauman’s/Mann’s) Chinese Theater, where Quan was honored at a ceremony to put his handprints and footprints in some of the most exclusive concrete in the world, and he wasn’t alone. Most of his fellow Goonies were in attendance!
Love Hurts star Ke Huy Quan's Goonies reunion at the TCL Chinese Theater
Quan was honored just a few days before the premiere of Love Hurts, which features a narrative thread something in common with Quan’s own life experiences. It follows the misadventures of Marvin Gable (Quan), a retired hitman-turned-realtor just trying to enjoy the quiet life. Of course, your old life has a way of coming back around and Gable has to dust off his more violent talents to survive.
In addition to the crowd and the concrete, Quan’s old friends were at the TCL Chinese Theater to celebrate. The Goonies never say die, but they also never say no to a chance to lift up their friends. Quan could be seen alongside Goonies co-writer Chris Columbus and his fellow Goonies: Josh Brolin (Brand), Corey Feldman (Mouth), Jeff Cohen (Chunk), and Kerri Green (Andy). Brolin spoke at the ceremony, talking about the time they spent together on set and reading a letter from co-writer/producer Spielberg, who couldn’t be there.
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“Ke, as always, I’m proud of you for your meteoric rise as a child and then your second meteoric rise as a grownup. And believe me, very few of us get two bites at that apple,” Spielberg wrote. “The bite you have taken over the last five years has been to eat the whole damn apple. So, enjoy every morsel, don’t wipe your chin, let it drip onto your tuxedo, your new standard wear, and seize the day.”
Brolin went on, trading out Spielberg’s letter for his own prepared remarks. “I could not be happier for you, I know we all are, all us Goonies here, for an honor that is not only totally deserved, but celebrates all that is right in this industry.”
In his typical wholesome fashion, Quan took the first moments of his own speech to thank the firefighters and first responders working to contain fires in the L.A. area before talking about what the honor means to him. Quan first witnessed the handprint ceremony as a child when Spielberg and George Lucas left their marks. In that moment, he dreamed of one day putting his own hands in the famed cement, then that dream faded as his acting work dried up.
“Now here we are, more than 40 years later, and not only am I acting again but that crazy dream actually came true,” Quan said. “Dreams are weird aren’t they? They have a way of planting themselves quietly and surviving on hope, even when reality tries to root them up. Then one day, they bloom in ways you never expected.”
Ke Huy Quan and Sean Astin reunite in Love Hurts
Of the whole Goonies crew, only Martha Plimpton (Stef) and Sean Astin (Mikey) were missing from the ceremony. But Quan and Astin will appear together in the upcoming action-adventure film, Love Hurts. Astin plays Marvin’s realator boss, Cliff Cussik, and it’ll be the first time they’ve shared significant screen time together since 1985.
Cohen has, likewise, reimagined himself in the years since The Goonies. These days, he’s an entertainment lawyer. In fact, he’s Quan’s entertainment lawyer, which allowed for three Goonies, (Astin, Quan, and Cohen) to have their very own Regoonion on the set of Love Hurts.
Catch everyone’s favorite action star, Ke Huy Quan, in Love Hurts, in theaters everywhere Friday February 7, 2025.
