Ke Huy Quan Recalls Cursing Out Harrison Ford in Cantonese on INDIANA JONES Set
The Oscar winner describes running out of English comebacks and switching languages mid scene.
Ke Huy Quan told Sunday TODAY's Willie Geist that one of his most memorable moments opposite Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones was never scripted at all. Quan, who was 12 years old during his audition process for the role, recalled being pushed by Ford during a scene until he ran out of ways to respond in English. "The more he challenged me, I ran out of words! I didn't have any English words left to challenge him so the only thing I did was I challenged him right back, but in Cantonese!" Quan said, describing how the improvised exchange became one of the moments he remembers most from working with Ford.
The Sunday Sitdown clip touches on the same early chapter of Quan's career he has revisited in other recent appearances tied to his memoir, Never Say Die, which traces his path from his 1980s child-acting roles through his Oscar-winning turn in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Quan has previously discussed working with Ford, his time filming The Goonies, and the audition process that first put him in front of Hollywood as a preteen actor.
Quan's recollection of the Indiana Jones set adds another detail to the story he has been telling across several television appearances this fall, giving audiences a closer look at how a young, largely English-limited actor found his footing across from an established star. The Cantonese comeback, as Quan describes it, was less a planned bit of business than a survival instinct in the moment.
Quan discussed similar territory in a prior conversation, detailed in Ke Huy Quan Recalls Filming THE GOONIES and Landing EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE Role, where he also walked through memories of working with Ford during his early years on set.
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