Indiana Jones, The Goons, The Oscars: The Memoirs of Ke Hui Kwan, Best Supporting Actor Everything Everywhere

“Mom, I just won an Oscar!” Ke Hui Quan’s emotion will remain one of the main moments of the 95th Academy Awards, which was marked by the multiverse triumph of seven statuette winners all everywhere at once.

Hence, seven Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for a comedian of Vietnamese origin who came to the United States by boat and is now recognized by Hollywood (and especially Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, his two “movie fathers”. Present at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles).

Flash forward to the scene, which is seen as a perfect illustration “American Dream” For someone we met during a visit to Paris in 2016, who then shared some memories of his career…

Memories of… Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

“One of the greatest adventures of my life”

Everything was so new to me. It’s a little strange, but even though it was my first film, it felt strangely familiar. It was an interesting experience to see how they set up the shots and everything. I was very happy. I was very lucky to be part of this film. When we filmed it, I had no idea what a phenomenon Raiders of the Lost Ark was. Steven Spielberg made sure I stayed away from it so I could enjoy the adventure. But it wasn’t until Temple of Doom came out and I traveled the world to promote the film that I realized it was a highly anticipated sequel. It remains one of the greatest adventures of my life.

in roles

They held an open casting call at my school, the idea was to give students who fit the character description and age to try their luck. My brother participated in the audition. I was with him, there was a camera and a casting director. I stood next to the casting director and helped my brother, asking him questions and telling him what to say and what to do. And then the casting director turned around and asked me if I wanted to try out. I stood in front of the camera and did my job. And the very next day we got a call from Steven Spielberg’s office asking me to go see him. It was really funny because we didn’t know what was going on. My mom made me wear a really fancy costume, I looked absolutely ridiculous. We are waiting for Steven Spielberg. He arrives, greets us, looks at me in this suit and says: “Great, but I want you back tomorrow in jeans and a t-shirt”. So we came back the next day in jeans and a T-shirt. And when I walked into the room, Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were there! And luckily, I didn’t know who they were at the time. If I had known, I would have been very upset. I don’t think I could have done what I did back then… We auditioned together and soon I was getting the part and I was on a plane to Sri Lanka.

Crescent… or short round?

Don’t they call it a short round in France? Crescent moon? A crescent moon? I didn’t know the hero’s name was translated for you! Everywhere I go, people call me Short Round. I really didn’t know that, thanks for telling me. Interesting to know. But I prefer the short round! (laughs)

“It’s like walking on dry cake…”

It was a really fantastic, realistic environment. And when I say “dry cookies” as I walk through the tunnel, all the flies on the floor were wrong. Fortunately, by the way, because I have a real phobia! On the other hand, when they filmed the scene with Kate Capshaw, two people were responsible for emptying buckets full of real insects on her. This is the shot you see on the screen with these cockroaches and centipedes falling on it. I saw him go through it and was glad I wasn’t him!

Mining train

They built this amazing set with rails that went around the set. It was like a roller coaster and fully functional. We were waiting for Harrison Ford to be able to control it, and we just walked around the set endlessly, filmed by Steven Spielberg and a cinematographer on another cart that ran on parallel tracks.

Monkey brain in sorbet

It was really good! It looked gross on the screen, but I seem to remember it being a banana dessert. Or something else, I don’t remember exactly, but it was really good! It was a kind of dessert specially prepared for us. It remains a good memory.

PG-13

Steven Spielberg saved me from the violence of the film on the set. For example, I only discovered the heart scene during the screening. And at that moment I knew it was all wrong because we had spent five months making the film. I don’t know if you know this, but there was no PG 13 rating before Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. So this is due to the movie being deemed too graphic and violent by the rating board. PG 13 was designed.

Guns

Goons never die!

We are like a family, even if we don’t see each other often. But when we meet again, it’s like we were never apart. Jeff Cohen, aka Choco, remained a very good friend. He is a very good audiovisual lawyer. I also see Sean Astin (Mickey) from time to time. We had a great time making this movie. And we all grew up with that movie, so it was a lot of fun. In the end, it’s a good movie. It became a classic.

Best memories

My best memories are ultimately backstage, in the dressing rooms. When we weren’t filming, we were in the locker room doing homework. It was a small space, we had two teachers with us and we were crazy! We laughed, we cried, we did stupid things together. This is definitely the time when we make real connections. In our “school lodge”. Then, of course, there was that amazing set. You could not make the same film now. It would be very expensive. But at that time we built this kit. Everything was real. Everything was there. Like a pirate ship, for example.

pirate ship

It was built on the largest set of Warner studios. Walking on this set was just incredible. Richard Donner, the director, and Steven Spielberg prevented us from seeing this scene during filming. We had to escort people to the set, we walked backwards with our eyes closed. We put our heads in the water, the director yelled “Action!” and that’s when we pop out, turn around and see the boat. Our expression is real because we feel the ship for the first time. It was cool ! For the record, some scenes in the movie were shot by Spielberg: the first time you see Data with his accessory belt, it’s shot.

Michael Jackson

It was amazing. One day we heard that Michael Jackson was coming to the set and so all the kids and even the crew were very excited. We were waiting for him from the morning when we got to the set: all day before we were shooting, we waited, looking over the shoulders of the technicians behind the camera to see if he was already there. And when he finally arrived, he was truly the most wonderful and generous person. But also very shy. And I remember shortly after that, I had a chance to go over to his house and watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with him in his home theater. And I remember that during the heart-wrenching scene, he was hiding his eyes and even came out. It was too intense, too violent for him, and he came back five minutes later.

inheritance

I never found a soul of Goon in what I saw next. I think that’s what’s so good and special about the movie, and also why there’s no sequel. Over the years, many people have tried to do Goonies with a group of kids going on an adventure. And so far they haven’t been able to replicate that spirit. And I think it has to do with the seven of us, the chemistry that we had. Credit mainly goes to director Richard Donner. He allowed us to be who we are, to be children. It was one of those movies where all the actors are talking to each other, hanging around… that’s how kids are. So yes, this is a very special film.

And then ?

Be a teacher and shut up

I really enjoyed this experience on Sois prof et tais-toi and working with other actors. And it’s very different from making a movie or a TV series. There’s only one camera on a film and you stitch together the takes until it’s good and the director is happy. But on the series, we spent four days rehearsing as a play, shooting with four cameras on the fifth day. It was very different. But it was a lot of fun and a little bit stressful because you had to shoot an entire episode in a short amount of time, memorizing all your lines.

waterfalls

As a child, I studied martial arts, especially Taekwondo. And when I graduated from film school, I got a call from Corey Yuen, a famous action director from Hong Kong. He offered to accompany me to Toronto (Canada) to help shoot the film. And it was the X-Men. Dropping out of film school on the set of X-Men, I couldn’t say no! I have always been a fan of Hong Kong cinema. I’m a big fan of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jet Li, Bruce Lee and all the great action movies that came out in the 80s in Hong Kong. Learning to choreograph a sequence was really something for me. Both an eye-opening and fun experience. It also looks like a dance sequence. very difficult. We spend a lot of time choreographing these scenes: it only lasts a minute on screen, but we have a week of work ahead of us.

Worship

It’s amazing because my nieces have seen the Goonies and Indiana Jones and they recognize me. My brother’s son, who was only five years old when I showed him The Goonies, immediately screamed “It’s Uncle Ke, it’s Uncle Ke!”. Nine years old! this is wonderful. It’s a great feeling to be in a movie that’s been around for a long time, but is still relevant to the next generation, especially The Goonies. Those who saw it when it came out are now parents, they show it to their children, and these children will grow up in turn… I hope this will continue from generation to generation. I feel very lucky to be a part of these iconic films.

collectors

They gave me a New York Yankees hat from Demi-Lune while I was promoting Indiana Jones. But I lost it, unfortunately. I don’t know where it is… but I still have the jacket that Data wore in The Goonies. That’s the only thing I kept in these two movies. do you want to buy for me (laughs) No, I keep it! Or if it’s a really good offer, maybe I’ll consider it… No, just kidding, I’ll move on!