LOVE HURTS Interview: Director Jonathan Eusebio Talks Designing Action, Working With Actors, Balance Between Violence and Humor

A mild-mannered Milwaukee realtor finds himself in the middle of a drug war in Love Hurts, an action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan, Ariana deBose, and Daniel Wu. It's the debut feature by director Jonathan Eusebio, a longtime stunt choreographer and coordinator whose credits include everything from Black Panther and The Avengers to the John Wick franchise.

Love Hurts is the latest production from 87North, the company that has been redefining cinematic action through titles like Nobody, Bullet Train, and The Fall Guy. Along with two Oscar winners, Love Hurts features Hong Kong star Daniel Wu and Super Bowl champion Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch. Sean Astin, who performed with Quan in The Goonies, has a pivotal role.

It's a return to roots for Quan, who left his acting career for some 20 years to work behind the camera as a stunt man and choreographer on films like X-Men.

Eusebio spoke with ScreenAnarchy at the Love Hurts press junket.

ScreenAnarchy: What was the shift to directing like for you?

Jonathan Eusebio: It was a big transition. When you're doing like second unit, the rules of the universe are already there. When you become the director, you have to create those rules.

It's a lot more time as well. On the stunt team, you do the prep, you do the shoot, and then you're done. As a director, you're prepping before the prep. You're trying to get the movie made, then it's prep, shoot, and post.

What surprised you about directing?

Post was a totally different animal for me. I didn't expect to be such a huge process, more than the actual shoot. I was consumed with many more things than I was as a stunt coordinator.

You make a movie three times. First in your prep, right? Then again during shooting, and finally in post. You can change the movie so many different ways in post. You can mold and shape a movie any way you want. You get your notes and then, sometimes you watch and say, oh, I can make this better. You don't really realize at first. At the end, you see, wow, this is a huge process.

Did you feel you could be as involved with the action scenes?

I wasn't involved with day-to-day moves and training actors, but I'm always working with my stunt team. We come up with concepts and we talk over things every day. And I'm still very hands-on with the action.

I've had basically the same team for years, since I was a stunt coordinator and second unit director. We have a creative shorthand when we're doing action.

Was it easier working with someone like Quan, who has an action background, than an actor like David Harbour?

It was easier in the sense that Quan didn't have to go through a process where you train him and get him in shape while figuring out what his style is. He already knows what he does well.

Sometimes we have to teach actors certain elements of movie fighting, which is different from real fighting. You have to teach people to adjust their timing and their distance. Quan already had all those tools, so it's really just a matter of teaching him the choreography that he likes. And then just executing it.

What did Daniel Wu bring to the project?

We were very fortunate on this movie to have two actors with action backgrounds. When we choreograph, they can do pretty much anything we ask. But they choreograph too. They have their input and can work their personalities into the fights. That was really fun.

Their fight at the climax was my favorite in the movie. Not just the intense level of action, but because it looked like they were really mad at each other.

That's exactly what we were trying to do. All the fights in the movie were designed to mirror Quan's character's emotional journey. In the early fights, he's almost playful. He's just trying to get away from people, and protect the life that he made for himself. Then as the movie progresses, the fights get a little bit more visceral and grittier because now his life's kind of in disarray. So the action has to reflect what's happening to him psychologically.

And with Wu, you focus on his size difference with Quan.

Styles make fights, styles define them. Your villain has to look like he is going to beat your hero, right? You have to give your hero problems. It was important to cast an actor who is just as physically capable as Quan. Daniel also exudes this elegance and danger at the same time, which I liked.

You're working here with performers who may not have much experience, like Marshawn Lynch. Did you need a different approach for their action scenes?

I grew up doing martial arts. I was actually a martial arts instructor. I like teaching. When we design action, I always design it to the physical capabilities of my cast, right? Then you design what they're fighting. You develop their style, how they fight, on what their character is.

A lot of it is finding what they look good doing. Then drills, designing moves. We try to make it look like they've been doing this for years and years and years. You only get a certain number of months, but I have to make it look like they've been doing it for over 20 years or so.

The approach is the same whether they're veterans like Daniel Wu or newcomers like David Harbour. First you see what they do well. Then you try to drive them in a direction where they feel confident. That's part of being a coach, I think.

How do you adapt that process to directing dramatic scenes?

The process for a stunt man is different from an actor's process. The process with stunt and action stuff is "result" direction. I tell them, "Go here, do this, do that," and so on. But actors want to go through an emotional journey, it has to feel authentic to them. So I learned tools or techniques, tried to educate myself, to help understand that process. Processes really, because every actor is different.

Here, you're directing Oscar winners in your debut feature. You can't just say, "do this."

Developing a way to communicate, you rely a lot on intuition. I may know the overall story and direction, the vision of what I want and where I want to go, but the actors know the characters better than I do.

it's up to me to give them the freedom to own their characters. At the same time, making sure it fits into the overall vision of the story. I see it as a collaboration, which is natural for me because as a stunt coordinator I was used to collaborating on ideas.

How do you adjust performances?

You can do it in the notes you give. Sometimes I'll say, "I like this direction, let's go with that. Keep going this way." Or "Good, we have all of that. Can we try it this way?" You let them do their take, but then you can ask them to switch it up.

Every actor's different. Some like to warm up in early takes, some people take longer to warm up. In the latter case, you do the wide shots first. There are a lot of different ways to do it.

In the press notes, Quan compared you to Corey Yuen.

That guy was legend. For Quan to make that comparison was a real honor. I grew up watching those guys. It's not like I'm trying to copy them, but I was always inspired by them.

What I loved about his work was that the geography of the scene was always so precise. And he found ways to work in humor.

When we design fights, I like to juxtapose violence with moments of levity. I like that contradiction. If there's extreme violence, we have moments of humor as well.

How do you find a balance between violence and humor?

It's a fine line. A lot of it actually comes on the set, with how your performers act out the scene. Sometimes I just go with where they're taking it. Or we'll do different takes. In some they're a bit angrier, in some, more lighthearted, having fun with it.

Then in post you go over the different takes. You can see things that might change what you originally had in mind, see where a scene can use a bit more humor.

What about working with other departments, like camera?

Our DP, Bridger Nielson, has worked a long time with 87North. He was my right hand, technically. Any visual idea I had, I discuss with him. I had my ideas for color temperature palettes, and I would go over it quite a bit with him. It's an ongoing conversation. When I'm designing shots or walking through action pieces, the DP is always with me.

Did you feel any pressure with such a short shooting schedule?

I'm used to it. On the second unit, we're used to shooting fast and quick. There was some pressure because the schedule wasn't very long, but I had my team with me, which made things easier.

The stunt team and second unit director were filming right after us. So whatever I didn't finish, boom, they're going right into it. We're almost shooting at the same time. I'm used to that kind of schedule, that kind of speed. Sometimes you just get in this weird flow state and you just wanna stay in that state.

The press notes mentioned one day with 77 setups.

Like I said, we're used to shooting fast. I had already kind of blocked a lot of the material out with the stunt team and second-unit director. We knew what shots we needed.

Plus I was lucky because I had Daniel and Ke, and they're very, very good film fighters, high level. We could get things done in two or three takes as opposed to seven to ten takes. They would understand what to do faster. I didn't have to adjust them too much because they're so good. It was a combination of great performers and knowing what we wanted to shoot.

Love Hurts opens Friday, February 7, only in movie theaters. For locations and showtimes, visit the Canada site or visit the U.S. site.