Johnathan Ke Quan, the Unintended Hero
The fan base is rather mixed upon the inclusion of Short Round in the second film. However, at least he isn’t as disliked as Willie is by many. It is actually surprising to find out that Johnathan Ke Quan was kind of an accidental part of the movie. Allow me to elaborate. When Universal got the working script and found out they would need to cast a young actor of Chinese ancestry in order to play the intended comedic side kick, they set out to posting up bulletins at local schools.
Johnathan’s big brother discovered the opportunity to be in a real Hollywood movie and he got a script. After nights of rehearsing with Johnathan, the pair set out to the tryouts. Johnathan accompanied his brother in to provide moral support. After the casting team heard the young boy cheering his brother as he tried out, they asked Johnathan to try reading some lines.
After witnessing the boyish enthusiasm he brought to the scripts, they offered him the part instead of his brother, the one actually trying out for it. Some of the lines were reworked in order to capitalize on the fact that they got a younger actor to play the role, thus creating the Short Round we have today.
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