The Inside Story of Love Hurts' Goonies Reunion with Ke Huy Quan & Sean Astin (EXCLUSIVE)
Get the deeper story behind one of the best scenes in Love Hurts.
**SPOILER WARNING!! Spoilers below for Love Hurts!**
Looking for a perfect Valentine's date idea? Look no further, because Universal Pictures and 87North's new action-comedy, Love Hurts (in theaters now, click here for tickets!), is a crowd-pleaser for action fans and rom-com lovers alike. Plus, it features a Goonies reunion with Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan and Sean Astin!
In Love Hurts, Quan stars as Milwaukee real estate agent and overall go-getter, Marvin Gable. Astin plays his supportive boss and mentor, Cliff Cussik, who knows how to rock a 10-gallon hat and support his treasured employees. However, Marvin's whole existence is about to get upended when, Rose (Ariana Debose), a former colleague from his old life as a mob enforcer, threatens to expose his nefarious past.
RELATED: Ke Huy Quan's Reaction After Reading Love Hurts Script: "You Should Be Calling Jason Statham!"
First-time director Jonathan Eusebio shared with NBC Insider how he assembled such an impressive cast, the bigger story of how The Goonies reunion came to be, as well as why it's one of his favorite scenes in the whole film.
Love Hurts features two Oscar winners, an NFL superstar, and even a Property Brother
A long-time stunt coordinator and performer in Hollywood, Eusebio got his chance to step up and direct this story that was developed by 87North specifically for him. And he sure got to direct an incredible range of talent, from the aforementioned Quan, Astin and DeBose to Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage), Lio Tipton (Crazy, Stupid, Love), Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death), Marshawn Lynch (Bottoms) and even Drew Scott of Property Brothers.
RELATED: Love Hurts: The Cast & Characters of Ke Huy Quan's Action-Comedy, Explained
"What's funny is, I do get a lot of compliments on the casting," Eusebio told NBC Insider. "But I never thought about trying to make it a diverse cast, or I'm trying to do representation. I wasn't really thinking about it. In my head, I just wanted to cast who I thought embodied these characters. And when they became members of my cast, I'm like, 'This is them. This is it!' You have many, many talented people out there, and they can play these roles. But the ones that are truly meant to be that character, they'll just come to you and I really couldn't ask for anything more."
The story behind Love Hurts' The Goonies reunion between Ke Huy Quan and Sean Astin
So, how did Quan and Astin get paired up in the film?
Eusebio said that Quan was cast first as Marvin, and then he consulted with the actor about creating a moment via casting in the film for audiences.
"The reason for the Cliff Cusick role was that I wished we could use someone from Ke's past movies as a good Easter egg for people," the director explained. "I remember me and Ke were talking, and I was like, 'We need to maybe do some type of Goonies reunion. Who could play Cliff?'
"He was like, 'Dude, you should ask Sean! Ask Sean, he would do it!'"
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Eusebio said after an easy meeting with Astin's team, he was cast as Cliff. "The thing that was so great about it is they're friends for a long time. They're almost like brothers. When you're watching [them] on screen, it comes off as that. They genuinely love each other. So I already knew, if I had him, it's a very obvious connection between them, which is an honest, authentic performance."
Proof of such is in the emotional moment in Cusick's office when he presents Marvin with the "Regional Realtor of the Year" award. Quan and Astin play the moment with such genuine emotion that many find themselves welling up in the audience.
"It's very touching," Eusebio agreed. "That's one of my favorite scenes in the movie. It's very honest and genuine in terms of how they interact with each other and what that certificate means to him. The interesting thing about that is Ke, when we had writing meetings, he was telling me it's like when he got the Oscar. When he first got it, he wouldn't let go of it for days, or it wouldn't leave his sight. And [this] is like, the same thing. He wanted to feel like this certificate was a validation for his new life. The emotions in there regarding that thing, you can see where it's coming from."
Love Hurts is now in theaters. Get your tickets now!
