Earlier this week, Ke Huy Quan added another marker to one of the greatest movie comeback stories of all-time, snagging the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All At Once, a film exploring the Tax Code and interdimensional warfare. And he’s not done yet, as the current favorite to pick up the Oscar in March.
Quan dominated a stretch of the 80s, starring with Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and in the ensemble cast of Goonies. Then, dissatisfied with the roles Hollywood offered actors of Asian descent, he transitioned behind the camera working in film production for a couple of decades. But after Crazy Rich Asians proved to film executives that three-dimensional Asian characters actually exist, Quan decided to get back into acting.
But entertainers need entertainment lawyers, so where did Quan turn for representation? Back to his child star call sheet.
Jeff B. Cohen of Cohen Gardner LLP starred as Chunk in Goonies, but also moved behind the scenes attending UCLA Law and becoming a leading entertainment lawyer. In a recent Hollywood Reporter Actor Roundtable, Quan got asked about his deal for Everything Everywhere All At Once:
QUAN: Jeff Cohen, who was in The Goonies with me — he was Chunk — is all grown now and he’s an entertainment lawyer. (Group bursts out in laughter.) When the producer of our movie was trying to make my deal, he said he never imagined that he’d have to talk to Chunk and Data for his movie. Anyway, then I did the whole thing, too — hired an acting coach, a dialogue coach, a voice coach — because I’m playing three different versions of the same character. I also hired a body-movement coach, and he’d pick different animals for me to practice as. One was a squirrel. I watched countless videos of nothing but squirrels on YouTube. I was on all fours trying to move like a squirrel.
A lesson for all the young lawyers out there daunted by the idea of building a sustainable book of business, consider starring in a 1980s blockbuster first.
[ADAM] SANDLER: Chunk get you a good deal, by the way?
QUAN: Jeff is an outstanding lawyer.
Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Jeremy Pope, Ke Huy Quan, Adam Sandler and THR’s Actor Roundtable [Hollywood Reporter]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
