Let Ke Huy Quan Play a Villain if He Wants To

Playing against type doesn’t always work. Some actors cannot be separated from the people they are or the kinds of roles they play. That’s why Jared Leto exclusively plays creeps. Every Arnold Schwarzenegger character is from Austria, even if he says otherwise. Dwayne The Rock Johnson cannot play anyone with fewer than fifteen shirt pockets. Those are the rules, but they are made to be broken. Plenty of actors have played against type with phenomenal results.

Dave Bautista has practically made a career out of playing against type. The big strong man has played… big strong men, but some have been softer or subtler, not relying on their strength. Leslie Nielsen had a full career of “normal” performances before he switched to comedy and had a resurgence. Liam Neeson has been taking a similar path, so it makes sense that he would be starring in a remake of Nielsen’s most memorable film (no, not Dracula Dead And Loving It but I would watch that). So, if Ke Huy Quan wants to play against type, give the man a chance!

Quan was a child star who appeared in films like The Goonies and Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. Then, his onscreen career dried up, but not by his choosing. He remained in the industry, choreographing stunts and fights for various productions and working behind the scenes in other capacities. However, Quan was cast as a lead character in Everything Everywhere All At Once, won an Oscar for his performance, and is back on the big screen, baby!

Quan’s acting career has now found a second life. He appeared in the second season of Loki, will star in the upcoming action-comedy Love Hurts, and doesn’t plan on stopping there. However, he has some ideas about how he wants this next chapter to play out. “I would love to play a bad guy. Like a Bond villain. Or the kind of thing Hugh Grant does in Heretic,” the actor recently explained to Empire. “I want to go out of my comfort zone and just play this diabolical, really bad guy. That would be a lot of fun.” Yes, please!

Ke Huy Quan has not only played mostly nice guys, but they are often meek and, dare I say, mousey. He is a skilled martial artist and can believably lay the smackdown on unsuspecting fools, but his lovely smile and big heart are always at the forefront and have been for decades. A sinister threat coming from Quan’s charming demeanor (or seeing him shed that demeanor altogether) would be very special and particularly menacing. And, he may want something less action-heavy as well.

“I don’t want to be perceived as an action star,” Quan noted. “I hope I’m perceived as an actor who does action well. So I’m going to take it one step at a time. The best part about being an actor is, you get to play a variety of different characters. I love [Loki’s] Ouroboros because he’s so different than [Everything Everywhere All At Once’s] Waymond, and Waymond is so different than [Love Hurts’] Marvin Gable.” I want everything (everywhere all at once) for Quan that he wants. If he wants to play a menacing villain who barely lifts a finger, let him! It’ll be scary as hell!