Ke Huy Quan is an action star in his first leading role.

Step aside, Statham. You too, Schwarzenegger. There’s a new action star in town.

Ke Huy Quan plays a suave real estate agent with a dark secret in upcoming action film love hurts (previously titled with love), and Entertainment Weekly has your exclusive first look. In his first starring role, the Academy Award winner plays Marvin Gable, a real estate agent in suburban Milwaukee whose life is turned upside down when he receives a mysterious crimson envelope. It is courtesy of Rose (Ariana De Bose), his former accomplice whom he left for dead.

Marvin is soon thrown back into a world of ruthless hitmen commanded by his crime lord brother, Knuckles (Daniel Wu), which forces him to confront his buried past. Former NFL running back Marshawn LynchMustafa Shakir, Rhys Darby and Sean Astin They are also among the cast of the film by veteran stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio (John Wick, the scapegoat) in his first feature film as a director.

When Quan’s agent informed him that he had been offered the lead role, “I was excited” but also “very confused,” the actor says. Entertainment Weekly. “I say, ‘Wait, why are they offering me this? I’m nothing like this.’ I even said, ‘You should call Jason Statham.’ You’re going to love this script.’” But after meeting with the producers, he realized that the film required “a different type of action star, not the action star we’ve seen in recent decades. He is not afraid to be vulnerable; He doesn’t seem like a tough guy until the situation calls for it. It is an interesting vision of the genre.”

Eusebio, on the other hand, knew from the beginning that it would be Quan. “With Ke, this movie coincided with the awards season for Everything everywhere and at the same time”says the director. “You’re seeing him coming back; He is very uplifting, his speeches are the best. “I already knew about his experience doing stunts in Hong Kong, so I knew how physically capable he was.”

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Quan, who has a background in martial arts and did stunts in titles like 2000. X-Men Prior to his return to the screen, he trained for three months before production began, focusing on stretching, weights, and core training. “I was adamant about this. I told our producers, ‘You have to let me do all the fighting myself,’” he says. “And this without even knowing if I could do it or not!”

Fan of classic Hong Kong action movies starring legends like Jackie Chan, Jet Liand Sammo Hung, Quan was determined to follow in their footsteps by doing his own stunts. “I knew it was going to be intense and really difficult, but I wanted to do it,” Quan says. He was returning to his apartment in Manitoba, Canada, exhausted and bruised after a day of work, which included throwing it away. down with former NFL star Lynch (there was “nothing scarier” than having a former running back come at him at full speed, he jokes) and martial arts icon Wu “We really tried,” he says of the latter. “I’m old school and so is he, and that’s how we were taught to make a fight sequence look good. “You can’t fake it.”

And let’s not forget fellow Oscar winner DeBose, who Quan says contributed “a lot” to Rose. “You don’t want to mess with Rose,” he mocks the “tough” and “determined” character. It was especially moving to star alongside person who (emotionally) gave him his big Oscar win in 2023. “There was this mutual admiration between us, this respect for having spent the entire awards season together and having received the Oscar from her and having announced my name with so much emotion,” Quan says. “I remember going up to her and giving her a big hug. I said, ‘I’d love to work with you.’ “I didn’t know that my first film after the Oscar was with her.”

Although Marvin demanded a lot from Quan (shout out to Epsom bath salts), he would do it all over again, despite his ex’s concerns. EEAAO co-star and good friend Michelle Yeohwho knows a thing or two about action sequences. “I was having dinner with my wife and he asked, ‘How’s Ke?’ She said: “He is exhausted every night.” He’s working very hard.’ Michelle says, ‘Echo, tell him not to do it all himself! Tell him to leave it in the hands of the double! And of course I didn’t follow his advice,” Quan says. “I wanted to prove to myself that I can still do it.”

Eusebio is “very proud of the cast” that was assembled. “It’s a very fun movie,” he says. “The most interesting action heroes are the ones people can identify with. It’s nice to be able to identify with someone who looks like you or who grew up in the same circumstances.” Quan hopes this will resonate with the public. “I don’t look like your typical action star,” he says. “A tough guy doesn’t have to look like one.”

Reflecting on her winding journey through Hollywood, the former child star admits: “I never thought I’d be number one on a call sheet. Every time I went to see an action movie, whether it was Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Seagal or Statham, I fantasized about being in their shoes, but that only existed in my fantasy. What an incredible step forward.”

love hurts hits theaters on February 7, 2025.