Indiana Jones Star Recalls His Surreal Short Round Audition Process

screenrant.com:

Ke Huy Quan, who played the young sidekick Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, recalls the bizarre audition process he went through to win the role. The second installment in the Indiana Jones franchise and a prequel to the first film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom sees the fedora-donning adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) traveling to India to help a despondent village that has had its children and a sacred mystical stone stolen from them by a Thuggee cult. Aiding the archaeologist in his mission are nightclub-singer-turned-reluctant-explorer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and his 11-year-old sidekick Short Round (Quan) as they fend off the human sacrificing Thuggee priest Mola Ram (Amrish Puri). Although it was a box-office success and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom received mixed reviews on its release for its darker tone and more gory violence. While opinion on the film has become more favorable over the last forty years, it is still seen by many contemporary critics as one of the lesser entries in the Indiana Jones franchise.

The movie is also notable, however, for being the feature film debut for Quan, who was just 12 years old at the time of filming. The young actor's performance as Short Round opened the door to a number of similar action-adventure movies, both in the United States and abroad. Following Temple of Doom, Quan played gadgeteer Data Wang in The Goonies before taking on the lead role in the martial arts movie Breathing Fire. Having returned to acting recently after initially retiring in 2002 due to a lack of opportunities for Asian Americans, the actor has since appeared in the Netflix family adventure Finding 'Ohana