It’s fitting that the first look at Jonathan Eusebio’s Love Hurts came in the same week as John Wick’s 10th anniversary. Eusebio, who’s affectionately known as “JoJo,” met Wick co-directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski at a martial arts school in the early ‘90s, and the two stunt performers turned filmmakers have taken Eusebio under their wings ever since. It was quite a career pivot for someone who majored in biological sciences at UC Irvine, but it wasn’t completely unforeseen considering Eusebio’s two first loves were martial arts and Hong Kong action cinema. 

Eusebio then climbed the ranks, working on the stunt teams for features like Blade II (2002) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). He then gained more and more responsibility through roles such as the assistant fight coordinator on The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) to the actual fight coordinator on Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Avengers (2012).

Then, in 2014, he served the same role on Leitch and Stahelski’s feature directorial debut, John Wick. And when the Keanu Reeves actioner became an unexpected hit, the co-directors became two of the hottest names in town, creating a rising tide for Eusebio and their other most trusted collaborators.

His ascent continued as the stunt coordinator on Black Panther and Leitch’s Deadpool 2, the latter of which was coupled with another significant promotion as second unit director. It was then that Leitch’s producing/life partner Kelly McCormick planted the seed of Eusebio becoming a full-fledged director.

“[Producer] Kelly McCormick had a talk with me on the set of Deadpool 2, and so she’s the one who really hit it home for me,” Eusebio tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Love Hurts’ first trailer. “We were sitting on these director’s chairs inside the tent on this hill, and after we had this conversation, our chairs fell out of the back of the tent and we almost slid down the hill.”

Just over two years ago, Leitch and McCormick began to develop Love Hurts, formerly known as With Love, for Eusebio to direct. And during the 2023 awards season, Eusebio realized he’d found the ideal actor to play the role of Marvin Gable, an affable Milwaukee realtor whose past as a hitman comes back to haunt him. 

“[Ke Huy Quan] was winning awards, and he was giving all these inspiring speeches,” Eusebio recalls. “To see that inspired me to go, ‘Man, this guy makes everyone feel good about themselves.’ I then saw parallels between him and the Marvin character, and I said, ‘This guy is perfect.’”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Eusebio also discusses how Quan’s own history on stunt teams made a notable difference in his first go-round as a proper action star.

When I spoke to Dave Leitch for Bullet Train a couple years ago, he told me then that he was developing something with you in mind to direct. Was it always this particular project? 

This property has been in my hands for a couple years now, so it has always been this project. It’s what Dave was talking about when he talked to you. 

Was there a previous job where you both knew by the end of it that you were ready for the next step?

Gosh, I don’t think there’s one particular moment where I knew I wanted to direct. It just happened over the years, and when the time came, either you’re ready or you’re not. When I got into this business, I started as a stunt performer, and I wanted to be the best stunt performer I could be. Then I became a [stunt] coordinator, and I wanted to be the best coordinator I could be. Then I became a second-unit director, and I wanted to be the best second-unit director I could be. So I never planned to sit in the main chair; it just happened, and I don’t think there’s one particular moment. All my experiences led me here. 

After having John Wick kill someone with a pencil in John Wick: Chapter 2, the lightbulb didn’t turn on your brain? There’s no version of that story?

(Laughs.) There’s no version of that. I can say that [producer] Kelly McCormick had a talk with me on the set of Deadpool 2, and that’s when she brought it up. She was like, “I think you should start thinking about directing.” At the time, I was just doing second-unit for [Dave and Kelly], and so she’s the one who really hit it home for me. We were sitting on these director’s chairs inside the tent on this hill, and after we had this conversation, our chairs fell out of the back of the tent and we almost slid down the hill. So that was the first moment where the conversation about directing came up. 

I had this conversation with J.J. Perry recently, but it seems like Dave and Chad Stahelski are both making a point to open doors for other aspiring filmmakers in the stunt community. You’re living proof of that, as is J.J., but do you get that sense overall? 

Oh yeah. Dave, Chad and J.J. are my mentors or older brothers in the business. They’ve always had that team mentality, and as they go up, the guys underneath them go up. We always approached stunt work, not just by executing the actual physical stunts, but by telling stories. “Why are we doing these stunts? Why is the character motivated to do certain things?” They’ve always thought like that, and they imparted it to the guys that were following them. 

You met Dave and Chad at Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts in the early ‘90s?

Yeah, I came up in the same martial arts school as Dave and Chad, and they were stunt guys. So I just followed those guys into the business, and they mentored me from then till right now. 

So when did Ke Huy Quan enter into the equation for Love Hurts? 

It was right before the SAG strike, somewhere near there. The idea started during the awards season when he was campaigning for his Oscar. He was winning awards, and he was giving all these inspiring speeches. So you could see that he’s genuinely happy and very grateful, and everyone loves him. But to see that inspired me to go, “Man, this guy makes everyone feel good about themselves.” I then saw parallels between him and the Marvin character, and I said, “This guy is perfect.”

He was an assistant fight choreographer on X-Men, and he knows taekwondo. Was he ahead of the curve once he started 87North training? 

When you’re doing a certain type of fight choreography there’s a certain language, and he already knew the language. He’s been on stunt teams, he knows fight timing and he knows how to perform on camera. So the action was a lot easier because we already spoke the same language.

Did you put him through the months-long process that Keanu, Charlize Theron, Bob Odenkirk and Mary Elizabeth Winstead have all done? 

Yeah, we had him training for months before we even got into production. He’s so good. He knows what moves work for him. He knows how to choreograph. A lot of it in the beginning is just trying to get in shape, but again, Ke knowing the language already made everything a lot easier. 

Did you focus on one particular style, or did you mix and match a bunch of things?

We just mixed and matched. We tried to make each fight seem different. The character is a little bit more lighthearted, and then, by the end of the movie, we’re going by his emotional state. He decides to become who he is, so the fights are different. I like to make every fight scene different, but it also corresponds to the emotional state of the character. And because Ke is so well-versed in choreography, he can do different styles, no problem.

Chad, Dave and J.J. all had growing pains starting out, so how long did it take you to find your sea legs as a director? 

Gosh, it was the same thing. You don’t know how to do the walk until you actually do the walk, and I’m so lucky because I had those guys mentoring me. They tried to get me to not repeat the same mistakes or have the same growing pains that they had, but no matter what they did, you don’t know until you are in that chair. There’s just some things you have to experience and see how you deal with it.

What prompted the title change from With Love to Love Hurts?

This title is just more fitting. The movie does take place on Valentine’s Day; it’s about different types of love. And the title just harkens more to the action background.

I’ve always wanted to imagine that some of these 87North or 87Eleven characters reside in the same universe together. Did you include any references or Easter Eggs to any of the other Leitch or Stahelski-produced action movies?

There’s some inspiration for things, but I would reserve that you have to watch the movie to find out.

With all the stunt professionals turned directors now, are crew options getting thinner and thinner?

The community is so tight. We all know each other, and I feel like everyone will try to find a way to help each other.

Lastly, I noticed you were invited into the Academy recently. I had a healthy debate with J.J. not too long ago, and he believes that a best stunt Oscar will never happen because it would require credit being taken away from the movie star and the director. I countered that the same argument could be applied to any technical category, but nobody says the production design Oscar takes credit away from the director’s vision for the sets. Anyway, how do you see it?

Anything that contributes to the movie should be recognized because every department works really hard. Everyone works long hours. Everyone pours their hearts into the work they do, and it’s just important for each department to get recognized. So I’m all for stunts getting recognized at the Academy Awards. They do a lot to contribute to the overall film.

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Love Hurts releases in movie theaters on Feb. 7, 2025.