Ke Huy Quan and Lio Tipton in "Love Hurts."
Working in Hollywood is a precious enough gift, something that Lio Tipton has found out through the years with guest roles on such TV shows as The Big Bang Theory and Why Women Kill or starring in such films as Lucy, Warm Bodies and Crazy, Stupid, Love.
But once in a while, a starring role comes with a huge bonus, like the one Tipton experienced on the new action-comedy Love Hurts. Since the lead in the film is Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan and one of the film’s co-stars is Sean Astin, Tipton experienced something very unexpected—a mini-Goonies reunion.
"On my first day on set, I got to hang out and meet some people before I came in to shoot, and I realized what was happening in that scene when Ke and Sean Astin were shooting,” Tipton recalled for me during a recent Zoom conversation.
But that wasn’t all. Quan assembled a few more of his pals from the 1985 action-adventure classic on the day of the recent Love Hurts premiere.
"We had a luncheon before the premiere and I didn't realize I was just sitting next to the entire cast of The Goonies,” Tipton enthused. “We were talking. I was just talking to the entire cast of The Goonies!”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 03: Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Cha-Lee Yoon, Marshawn Lynch, Ke ... [+]
Aside From Ke Huy Quan, Lio Tipton Got To Work With Some Great Scene Partners On ‘Love Hurts’
In Love Hurts, Quan stars as Marvin Gable, a former assassin with the criminal organization The Company who left his old life behind to become a successful realtor.
Marvin’s life is suddenly turned upside-down, though, when he receives a Valentine’s card from Rose (Ariana DeBose), a former lawyer for The Company who is on the run after being accused by the crime organization’s crime lord, Alvin, aka “Knuckles” (Daniel Wu) of stealing lots of his money.
Even though Knucklers and Marvin are brothers, Knuckles sends various hitmen to rough up Marvin to find out Rose’s whereabouts.
Tipton stars as Marvin’s forlorn assistant, Ashley, who swears off the idea of love until Knuckles’ hitman The Raven (Mustafa Shakir) comes along—and they have an instant romantic connection despite being on opposite sides of a very dangerous situation.
Lio Tipton
In one of Tipton’s scenes with Shakir, The Raven reads his newfound love Ashley some poetry, which at first involved the unappreciated art at first of keeping a straight face.
“We read this ridiculous poetry to each other and had to challenge each other to feel connected by it but really, it ended up being a game of like, ‘Who's gonna break first, huh?’” Tipton recalled. “But there's a level of trust within the comedy and trust within the vulnerability [of the scene] because [we have to find] the balance of tone.”
Anyone who sees Love Hurts will realize that Tipton and Shakir easily find the right balance of tone for the pivotal scene because it feels real. Tipton believes a big part of that is Shakir’s undeniable charisma.
“He would come to set sometimes and would be like. ‘I’m going to tell you your aura’ [and I’d say] ‘Please do.’ When you’re staring at his face, it really is like he has little circles aorund his eyes that just kind of hypnotize you and he would read my aura,” Tipton recalled. “He’s a great art partner.”
Going Into Battle With Beast Mode
Tipton said it was also a thrilled to work with former Seattle Seahawks running back great Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch, who plays King, who is one of Knuckles’ hitmen. At one point, when Marvin and King are battling it out, Tipton’s Ashley tries to stop King by hopping on his back and left shoulder.
King tosses Ashley away with ease, but the nearly 5-foot 10-inch former America’s Top Model contenstant and compeitive ice skater said in real life that Lynch wouldn’t be able to do that so easily.
“I do jump [on Marshawn] in the scene and I'm not sure he could actually throw me that far … I'm pretty sure he couldn't even pick me up,” Tipton said, smiling.
Ke Huy Quan and Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch in "Love Hurts."
In real life, Tipton thinks the world of Lynch and loves the direction his career has been taking since he retired from the NFL and scampered in front of the camera to appear in such TV series as Westworld and films including Bottoms.
Tipton said it is Lynch’s “innocence” as an actor that made him so fun to be around. That inspirational quality also served as a great reminder to Tipton how important innocence can be to anyone’s career.
"That innocence — you hope you never lose touch with it and you don’t become complacent,” the actor said. “When a guy [like Marshawn] comes around along it kind of gives you a little nudge. It’s like, ‘Yeah, I can’t ever lose that,’ because look what he does on screen in this film, you know? It’s because of that sort of enthusiasm.”
Tipton—who off-screen is a stop-motion animation fan influenced by the works of Tim Burton and his inspiration, Edward Gorey—wants to explore all sorts of genres as an actor, in particular action.
“I want to do a lot more action. I've got a lot of drama coming up, but [but I want to do] more action and fantasy. I could get into that.”
But don’t try to talk Tipton into doing a horror movie.
“No horror movies! I’m terrified of my own shadow,” Tipton said with a laugh.
Love Hurts is playing in theaters nationwide.
