Ke Huy Quan reflects on reconnecting with Harrison Ford 38 years after Indiana Jones
The Everything Everywhere All At Once star got his start playing Short Round back in 1984
Aux News Ke Huy Quan
Ke Huy Quan has had quite a year. After breaking open the multiverse in A24's smash hit Everything Everywhere All At Once in his biggest role as an adult, the onetime child actor’s career renaissance is kicking off, and he’s filmed roles in the Disney+ series Loki and American Born Chinese.
Quan also had a surprise opportunity to revisit the role that first brought him to the big screen: Short Round in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. While at Disney’s D23 Expo to promote his new gigs, the actor ran into his former co-star Harrison Ford, and the delightful pictures of the reunion immediately went viral. In an interview with the New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan, Quan shares more about the meeting decades in the making:
We’re in this green room with so many actors, producers, and directors, and the person who was assigned to assist me said, “Harrison Ford is right outside the green room. Would you want to go say hi?” I’m thinking, “Of course! I haven’t seen him in 38 years.” So I walk out and I see him about 15 feet away talking to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, they’re there to promote Indy 5. And as I walk close, my heart is pounding. I’m thinking, “Is he gonna recognize me? The last time he saw me, I was a little kid.”
And as I get closer, he turns and points his finger at me, and he has that classic, famous, grumpy Harrison Ford look. I go, “Oh my gosh, he probably thinks I’m a fan and he’s gonna tell me to not come near him.” But he looks and points at me and says, “Are you Short Round?” Immediately, I was transported back to 1984, when I was a little kid, and I said, “Yes, Indy.” And he said, “Come here,” and gave me a big hug.
Quan was cast in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom at just 12 years old and followed it up with another nostalgic favorite in The Goonies. As an adult, he became discouraged by the lack of opportunities for Asian American actors and stepped behind the camera instead, until he was inspired by 2018's Crazy Rich Asians to give performing another shot. Now, alongside his Everything Everywhere All At Once co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu, he’s an early favorite for Oscar nominations.
30 Comments
There’s no doubt this was one of the most heartwarming media-related stories of the year. That’s some great serendipity that both of them were there at the event.
Okay that’s cute. 🙂
I don’t think Ford smiles that easily, but that smile don’t lie.
He scrunches up his face so much when he does it too!… wait a second…. maybe THAT’S why he keeps crashing aircraft! He gets all happy flying and suddenly, BAM! Blind smiling!
That is a very real smile from a famously grumpy man and it warms my heart.
A genuinely warm, snark-free article on the AV Club. Who would have thought?
Good wholesome content!!
“and I said, “Yes, Indy.”You call him “DOCTOR JONES”!
at his age and temperament shouldn’t we just assume Harrison Ford thinks every Asian adult is Short Round? LOL
At least he didn’t say “Where’s my laundry?”
At least when he is high, which from what I understand is basically all the time
“Fly? Yes! Land? No!”
“Is it ‘what’s your first thought when Harrison Ford is trending on Twitter?’, Alex?”
Harrison Ford is a stoner? Well color me all kinds of surprised. Then why does he always seem so fucking grumpy? Dear god what must he be like when he’s NOT stoned??? LOL
I still think he should take over the franchise.
Yeah I’m hoping this a set-up for at least a cameo in Indy 5. My vision: Indiana gets called before some big academic review board threatening to revoke his tenure for his latest destructive adventure shenanigans… and it turns out the new dean of the Archeology department is Prof. Round, who gives Indy a hard time but ultimately cuts him a break.
That would be AMAZING and would make total sense!
Temple was always my favorite of those movies. Think I was 10 when it hit. Nice to see Shorty doing well.
Temple of Doom was the first Indy movie I saw in a theater, so it and these two have a special place in my kid heart. I’d share a bowl of eyeball soup with these two any day.
That’s a hot take that I can get behind. First movie I remember seeing in the theater.
Temple of Doom was at least partly filmed in Sri Lanka. Some of my relatives’ relatives were famous film directors from there and could have met Spielberg but they weren’t able to for some reason (they did meet Jamie Lee Curtis through the Cannes Film Festival, though). A lot of their usual crew did work with Spielberg, however.
I honestly don’t like Temple that much compared with Raiders or Last Crusade (Willie’s shrieking is so annoying) but I do like Short Round.
He was one of Indy’s only competent sidekicks! He was my favorite as a kid his age.
Think I was 10 when it hit.I think I was about 10 when the VHS box set fell out of the Christmas tree where my parents had hidden it and landed on my face while I lay underneath. So, same?
I mean if it were me I probably would have reached out to/sent annual cards to a kid that starred in one of my biggest movies sooner than after 38 years but that’s just me
I’ve wondered if Everything Everywhere All At Once had come out much earlier, would they have considered casting him in a role in Indiana Jones 5 considering how much warmth there is to him.
Damn I was hoping he was in Indy 5 and they were keeping it low-key but I guess not then.
My favourite picture of the year featuring someone from my favourite picture of the year.Way to go, Waymond!
This just makes me sad we won’t see him in the new movie.
50 dolla bill, 50 dolla bill (I know it’s not Indy)