After the awards ceremony, the Australian actress, one of the most admired in Hollywood, had a gesture that was as affectionate as it was moving with her colleague
"This is the American dream," said Ke Huy Quan, the new Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor, excitedly in his acceptance speech for the award, last Sunday the 12th, in front of a packed audience at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and those who followed the broadcast on TV.
That boy who appeared with Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones had finally achieved what he had fought for decades. The road, by his own admission, was not easy, and this week, in an interview with the Magazine, the All in Parts at the same time star shared valuable advice he received directly from another great actress, beloved by Hollywood: Cate Blanchett.
Ke Huy Quan assured the magazine that he still does not know what his next role will be, and that he told Blanchett the same thing. "I told him I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I feel like I have a responsibility to do something good and I don't want to disappoint all the people who have supported me," he said. “‘Follow your heart and be irresponsible. Don't worry about what others think. Choose something you believe in, choose something you love, and things will work out,'" the two-time Oscar winner replied.
When reviewing the beginnings of Quan's career, born in Vietnam, that premise is the one that has prevailed in his decisions. He came to Los Angeles after being in a refugee camp in Hong Kong as a child. “I did not have the necessary maturity to process the sacrifices my parents made so that we could have a better future,” he said. "And as fate would have it, four years later, I got a job at Indiana Jones that changed my life," he added for the same medium.
As he delivered his emotional speech to the Oscars audience, some recognized Quan as the boy from the 1984 Steven Spielberg-directed film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
As proof that he doesn't forget those who helped him, he took a moment to thank both Spielberg and Ford. In a commercial break during the broadcast, he said, he walked over to where the famed director was sitting with his wife, Kate Capshaw. Seeing him, Spielberg put his arms around his shoulders and reminded him: "You're an Oscar winner now."
The second moment came almost by fate since it was Harrison Ford who presented the statuette for Best Picture. Somehow, he handed it over to his ward. Walking on stage, along with the cast and production of Everything Everywhere at the same time, Quan hugged him on stage. "I gave him a big kiss on the cheek," he admitted to the Magazine.
