Mark Hamill And Carrie Fisher Surprised A Young Ke Huy Quan On The Set Of Indiana Jones
One of the greatest joys of actor Ke Huy Quan's seemingly never-ending awards campaign for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is hearing all of the incredible Hollywood stories he has stored away. Appearing in the '80s hits "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," Quan was able to work with some of the greats, including Richard Donner, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford. That's incredible company. Quan, by association, was in rarified air shared with some of the most influential actors and filmmakers in all of cinema history. So, it's no wonder that he has some truly unbelievable tales to share, making him one of the most interesting interviews on the current press trail as we ramp up to the Academy Awards in March.
Until Quan starts revealing more stories about working alongside my childhood hero, Corey Feldman, hearing about his surprise on-set introduction to Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher on the set of "Temple of Doom" will have to do. (I can also go watch Josh Gad's Covid era cast reunion of "The Goonies" for the tenth time.) Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Quan regaled host Josh Horowitz with another heartwarming yarn that just makes me love Quan's comeback story even more.
Not only did Quan get the opportunity to act next to Harrison Ford in his first major role, he also got to spend an entire afternoon with arguably two of the most famous people in the world at that time. "Return of the Jedi" had just been released, wrapping up the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Hamill and Fisher happened to be in London to visit Ford and Lucas on the "Temple of Doom" set at the famed Elstree Studios. The only problem was Quan didn't really know who they were.
Burying the lead
Addressing Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, Ke Huy Quan looked back at the surprise meeting that most kids at that time could only dream of experiencing themselves:
"One day two grown-ups came to visit us, and I didn't even know who they were at that time. And it was Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, and we just spent an entire afternoon together. It was not until after the movie when they showed me, when George Lucas screened 'Star Wars' to me that I realized 'Oh my God, that one afternoon I was having so much fun with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia!'"
I have so many questions. Had Quan never seen "Star Wars" before? Saying that George Lucas screened "Star Wars" for him after they shot "Temple of Doom" seems to suggest that it was Quan's first time watching any of the original trilogy. Quan was around 12-years-old when the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" prequel was filming, literally the perfect age to be obsessed with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, R2-D2, and C-3PO. Surely, Quan had seen "Star Wars" before but just didn't realize the "two grown-ups" were actually Luke and Leia until he watched "A New Hope" (presumably) again during a personal screening with Lucas (an amazing small detail all by itself). But there's no follow up by Horowitz to confirm this! If Quan hadn't seen any "Star Wars" until 1984 or thereabouts, that's the real story here.
Regardless, it's still incredible to think of Quan as a kid just starting out in the business having that kind of relationship with three legends, all in the span of one afternoon. "You know, those memories that I had of that shoot was that, and it was just so wonderful and amazing, and joyful."