Ke Huy Quan has finally been given some of the attention he deserves, thanks to his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, for Steven Spielberg, the casting of Quan as a child in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies was never about giving someone a break in the industry; it was always about what was best for the movie and the story. Speaking to Access Hollywood, Spielberg said:

“The thing to remember is, any of us, when we’re casting, we’re not doing it for the person we cast, we’re doing it for the common good of the movie, of the play. Casting is about, how do we serve the script? How do we serve the whole endeavor? So I never think of it as giving somebody a break or giving somebody an opportunity to get into life with more than they had before they came in and got the part. I think of it as, that’s a good piece of casting…

So with Ke, it was Short Round. He’d be great for Short Round. When I met him, he took the room by storm. Still does! He has a positive energy. So full of positive love. He just reaches out with his heart, and that’s the way he was as a kid auditioning for the movie. It’s only later that I realized that both a responsibility of bringing a young person into this business, but also my admiration for him about how he’s comported himself in this business. After he played Short Round, I cast him in Goonies, and he played Data. But then he didn’t work so much and he started working behind the scenes when he got older and grew up. He was a stunt gaffer for a lot of martial art fight scenes. He would come to my set on other movies, and we would meet and talk. But tonight blew me away. When he got the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, my heart just leapt out of my chest.”

Does Wrong Casting Result in a High Number of ‘Rotten’ Movies?

     Warner Bros

Rotten Tomatoes has been the go-to place for those who want a quick opinion on a new movie or TV show. Recently, reviews between critics and audiences have been more divided than ever, with much of the backlash coming from those calling out bad casting and bad writing. While it is hard to fix the latter, would Steven Spielberg’s simple method of always casting someone right for the part solve much of the online negativity?

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

While many shows have received much online backlash for changing the race or gender of characters, the simple fact, as Spielberg says, is that the actor should always be the right person to serve the character and the project overall. However, as seen recently with many big productions, it may sound simple, but with so many opposing opinions being easily shared on social media, the task is anything but.