‘Love Hurts’ Star Ariana DeBose Is Grateful That She Got to Present Ke Huy Quan’s Oscar “Free of Any Controversy”
The team-up of Oscar winners Ariana DeBose and Ke Huy Quan in Love Hurts is a fitting reminder of all the good that can come out of awards season.
At a time when there’s a new Oscar-related controversy practically every single day, DeBose is looking back on the events that transpired after her best supporting actress win for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story in 2022. The honor that she received for her take on the Anita character opened the door for her to relay that same dream to someone else the following year. And it turned out to be Ke Huy Quan’s best supporting actor role in the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once, signifying his storybook return to acting after two-plus decades.
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“When I opened the envelope and we said his name, I remember thinking, ‘I’m so glad he gets to have this moment free of any controversy,’” DeBose tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And then I cried because I thought he was so deserving of that.”
Later that night at an afterparty, Quan suggested the idea of working together, something DeBose embraced on the spot. She didn’t discover until later that Quan’s wife, Echo Quan, was the first person to recommend her for the role of Rose Carlisle in Jonathan Eusebio’s Love Hurts.
“It came up when we finally got to Winnipeg to make Love Hurts. And I was like, ‘Well, there’s a couple takeaways: listen to your wives,’” DeBose recalls mid-laugh.
DeBose and Quan’s first day together on Love Hurts’ Winnipeg-based set also required a selfie to be sent to Steven Spielberg. After all, the decorated filmmaker cast them both in their respective major studio debuts nearly four decades apart — Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and West Side Story (2021).
“Ke loves a selfie, so we [sent one to Spielberg]. He texted back in response to the picture we sent, and he was like, ‘Two people I love. I’m so glad to know that you’re working together,’” DeBose says. “He’s just a kind, kind soul. Aside from his craft, I don’t know that we’ve really celebrated his humanity and how wonderful he is just as a human.”
In Eusebio’s directorial debut, DeBose plays Rose, an in-house attorney for a criminal enterprise. After a hit is placed on her life by her boss, Rose’s life is spared by the organization’s love-struck enforcer, Marvin Gable (Quan). From there, they both go into hiding in their own separate ways until Rose decides to seek some Valentine’s Day-themed revenge.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, DeBose further discusses her slightly “unhinged” character, as well as the next steps in her career.
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There are many benefits to winning an Oscar, but perhaps the most rewarding one is that you literally get to hand that dream to someone else the following year. And you got to do so for Ke Huy Quan in a highly emotional moment. What do you remember most about that handoff in 2023?
I remember watching him through that entire [awards] season, and he had such beautiful energy. He was so hopeful and very present in the moment at any given time. I loved that he was so supportive of all the people around him. And when I opened the envelope and we said his name, I remember thinking, “I’m so glad he gets to have this moment free of any controversy.” And then I cried because I thought he was so deserving of that. You hear his story, and you can’t not be inspired by how the events of his journey have played out so far. So to have that moment with him and then get the chance to work with him, all of those observations were reaffirmed in the context of making Love Hurts. He’s everything I thought he would be and more. I just think he’s an incredible talent and a wonderful leading man.
And it was later that night that the two of you floated the idea of working together?
Yeah, Ke was like, “God, I would love to work with you.” And I was like, “I’d love to work with you too. Maybe we could do something fun and very different.” And I believe his wife Echo [Quan] looked at him and said, “I think she’s Rose.” I don’t think I actually heard that part of it [on Oscar night], but it came up when we finally got to Winnipeg to make Love Hurts. And I was like, “Well, there’s a couple takeaways: listen to your wives.” (Laughs.) Also, divine timing is a thing, and I don’t necessarily believe in coincidence anymore. So I’m very grateful that our paths collided and that we got the chance to make this movie. It’s a fun one.
It’s probably quite common to meet people at events and talk about working together someday, but is it pretty rare for it to actually come to fruition?
Yes, totally. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to a big event, but there’s a lot of things that are said in those spaces. So the follow-up and the follow-through is rare, but it’s a joy when it can happen like this.
Ke won for Everything Everywhere All at Once, and you just worked with Jamie Lee Curtis, who also won an Oscar for that movie. (DeBose and Curtis play daughter and mother in Amazon’s upcoming Scarpetta series.) Does this mean that you have Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu in your sights next? Are you going to check off that entire cast?
(Laughs.) It’s not a specific goal, but I will say that I do love those women. Stephanie Hsu and I have both come from the Broadway world, and I respect the mess out of her. And I’ve loved Michelle Yeoh for years. By the way, I don’t think we’ve given her her due on Wicked and her Madame Morrible. That shot where you see the monkeys behind her, I was like, “Sign me up for anything and all things Michelle Yeoh.” I’ve loved her since I discovered her, which, oddly enough, was in Tomorrow Never Dies. I was like, “If she can be a Bond girl, I want to be a Bond girl.” And I loved her in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I don’t know how we didn’t throw all the awards at her then, but I’m thrilled for her and for Stephanie. If the chance ever came to work with them, I would take it.
Besides your Oscar connection, you and Ke have one Steven Spielberg in common. Both of your major studio debuts were in his respective films: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and West Side Story (2021). The two of you sent him a photo during your first day together on set?
We did. Ke loves a selfie, so we did. And jefe [Spielberg] is so wonderful. We stay in touch every once in a while. He texted back in response to the picture we sent, and he was like, “Two people I love. I’m so glad to know that you’re working together.” He’s just a kind, kind soul. I think the world of Steven, and aside from his craft, I don’t know that we’ve really celebrated his humanity and how wonderful he is just as a human.
Marvin (Quan) successfully distanced himself from his illicit past, but Rose (DeBose) can’t help but dwell on hers. What kind of relationship do you have with the past? Do you try to focus more on the present?
That’s a wonderful question by the way. My personal ethos is that I look to the past to see the lessons that I’ve learned, but I don’t let it stand in the way of moving forward. We’re in the year of the snake. It’s all about shedding. So I frequently look to my past choices or moments or experiences to see if there were patterns or things that I would like to do differently in order to move forward. But I don’t necessarily allow it to wholly inform the person that I am in this moment. We change every day and our journeys are our own, but it’s good to learn from the past and then keep going.
Marv did save Rose’s life, so is her resentment partially about how he was able to move on with his life and she wasn’t?
I think her resentment comes from the fact that she believes that they could have moved forward together. So she probably has more severe abandonment issues than anything else, but I don’t think it’s a resentment of his moving on. People make choices all the time. You don’t have to like them, but they’re not your choices. They’re another person’s to make. But when you know a person so intimately and you know they’re moving from fear, sometimes resentment does build up.
Do you agree with her philosophy that “hiding ain’t living”?
Yes, I do, and I say that knowing the times that we’re living in. There’s a lot of fear in the world, so there are individuals who will have to choose stealth as a form of safety. But as an ethos, I think hiding isn’t living, and I don’t think we should put that on a person. I don’t think we should require someone to hide who they are. I don’t think that’s how we’re meant to live. Humanity is meant for us to live full lives. You have to accept your light, your dark, and it’s neither good nor bad. It’s all one. So I don’t wish hiding on anyone.
I did notice a bit of Harley Quinn and Catwoman in Rose.
A side order of unhinged?
Exactly! Plus, she wears a leopard-print coat (like Lee Meriwether’s Catwoman) and says “rawr” at a certain point. Was all that by design?
I don’t know that I consciously designed her that way, but when I was playing her and living in her, of course, the characters that I’ve seen and the women that I admire all ended up in there. So I just allowed it to manifest however it wanted to come out. I tried not to think too much with Rose. She seemed very instinct-driven to me.
She does use a typical gun when she absolutely has to, but she primarily uses a taser. What did you make of that choice?
To be honest, it was already there in the script, and I just loved it. She inflicts a certain amount of pain, but her goal is not to kill anyone. So I thought it was a very efficient weapon of choice. Weapons are … ugh. I have very specific views on weaponry, but in regard to this character and her choice to use that specific weapon, I thought it was quite appropriate. It didn’t need to be rationalized. It spoke to her efficiency.
87North choreography can be quite complex. Did your dance background give you a leg up?
I would say my dance background was very helpful in all of this, and it was part of why I wanted to pursue this role, this opportunity. To me, fight choreo is another expression of dance. It’s all physicality. Dance is all body language. It’s the same palette, just different colors, and I thought that my talent and skill set would lend itself to that. And I did find that to be true in the process of learning the sequences and making the work. So I’d like to do it again. I had a good time.
Seasoned directors can certainly be open to collaboration, but with Jonathan “JoJo” Eusebio being a first-time director, was he a bit more flexible than most?
We had such a collaborative experience together. I don’t feel like he let any prejudgment or lack of experience get in his way at all, which I admire. He jumped in head first, which is very brave. Ke is very specific; I am very specific. We both have ideas about what’s on the page and what we could do to make it better. So [JoJo] was always open to it and inspired by it, and then he found his way through it. Having such an extensive background as a stuntman and a stunt coordinator was incredibly helpful to him. It’s his love language, and you can see it’s a love language in the film as well. So we played to his strengths, and I’m very proud of him for doing that.
To end where we started, you’ve won an Oscar, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. How do you stay hungry and motivated when you’ve already reached all these mountaintops?
I love that question. Over the last few years, since that lovely run in the sun, as I call it, I made my goal to be versatile and to try to surprise myself. I didn’t want to be pigeonholed as the gal who just makes musicals, and so I really just went with the scripts and the parts that spoke to me, regardless of genre. And that was a really fun experiment for me. I learned a lot from it. Now, I am in something of a new era, only it’s old Ari, and my feet are a little more firmly planted. I’ve been in Hollywood for a little bit of time now. I don’t know everything about this world, but I have a better handle on it. So I’m going back to playing to my strengths. I love drama. I love physicality. I do love a musical, but ultimately, I like characters. I like parts that teach me something, but also allow me to do my best work in the best environments that I can be part of. So I’m coming to a time where I’m probably going to be a bit more choosy, and I’m also very hungry to get back to the stage. I miss it. Hosting the Tony Awards for three consecutive years was a way to keep that part of my talent alive, but I miss being on stage in a full-fledged show. So I am looking for what that is or what it will manifest to be, and I’m excited about it.
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Love Hurts opens in theaters on Feb. 7.
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