Indiana Jones Star Recalls His Surreal Short Round Audition Process

Ke Huy Quan, who played the young sidekick Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, recalls the bizarre audition process he went through to win the role. The second installment in the Indiana Jones franchise and a prequel to the first film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom sees the fedora-donning adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) traveling to India to help a despondent village that has had its children and a sacred mystical stone stolen from them by a Thuggee cult. Aiding the archaeologist in his mission are nightclub-singer-turned-reluctant-explorer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and his 11-year-old sidekick Short Round (Quan) as they fend off the human sacrificing Thuggee priest Mola Ram (Amrish Puri). Although it was a box-office success and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom received mixed reviews on its release for its darker tone and more gory violence. While opinion on the film has become more favorable over the last forty years, it is still seen by many contemporary critics as one of the lesser entries in the Indiana Jones franchise.

The movie is also notable, however, for being the feature film debut for Quan, who was just 12 years old at the time of filming. The young actor’s performance as Short Round opened the door to a number of similar action-adventure movies, both in the United States and abroad. Following Temple of Doom, Quan played gadgeteer Data Wang in The Goonies before taking on the lead role in the martial arts movie Breathing Fire. Having returned to acting recently after initially retiring in 2002 due to a lack of opportunities for Asian Americans, the actor has since appeared in the Netflix family adventure Finding ‘Ohana and the multiverse-themed science fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Quan has now detailed how he managed to score his first film role in Temple of Doom, and it’s unusual to say the least. While promoting Everything Everywhere All at Once on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the actor explains that his brother initially auditioned for the role in an open call that was being held in Chinatown, Los Angeles. Quan “tagged along…coaching [his brother] behind the camera,” and caught the eye of the casting director who offered him the opportunity to audition as well. Read Quan’s full account of his audition below:

My little brother went to audition, I tagged along, and I was coaching him behind the camera, and the casting director saw me and asked me if I wanted to try. The next day, I got a call from Steven Spielberg’s office, and my mom heard “Hollywood”, heard “famous director”, she thought it was a really fancy meeting. So she put me in this three-piece suit with a little gold chain hanging out of the side-pocket. So Steven came out, saw how uncomfortable I was, gave me the biggest hug, the warmest smile, and says “Ke, I want you to come back the next day but wear something comfortable.” And I went back the next day, I walked in the room, and there was Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford. And we spent an entire afternoon together, and three weeks later I was on a flight to Sri Lanka and it was the best adventures of my life.

There’s tons of trivia surrounding Temple of Doom, and Quan’s unusual audition process is another fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the eccentric production of the film. Quan goes on to reveal that he didn’t even know who Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford were while they were shooting, finding out about each of their illustrious careers only after he had completed filming. Still, it’s evident by the strong impact he clearly made on the three men during the audition that Quan was a natural child actor and fit the role perfectly despite having never performed for the camera before.

As well as providing another interesting tidbit for fans of Indiana Jones trivia, Quan’s strange audition and his love of his experience working on the film will no doubt add an extra layer of wholesomeness to Temple of Doom for devotees of the series when re-watching it. Although it would seem that Quan won’t be reprising his role in the upcoming and currently-untitled Indiana Jones 5 movie, the actor’s recent return to Hollywood may still invite speculation as to whether he’ll ever play Short Round again. Either way, it’s clear that this surreal audition for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom proved to be the unusual starting point for the actor’s own varied career.

Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live

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