Fil-Am Jonathan Eusebio directs Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose in ‘Love Hurts’

Ke Huy Quan as Marvin Gable in Jonathan Eusebio’s directorial debut “Love Hurts” | Image: Screengrab from YouTube/Universal Pictures

Ahead of its release next year, the first look at Filipino-American stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio’s upcoming directorial debut film “Love Hurts,” which stars Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose, has been unveiled.

In an image released by Hollywood Reporter, Eusebio was seen directing Huy Quan, who was holding a framed certificate and actively listening to the instructions of the director while shooting a scene in “Love Hurts.”

Prior to his directorial feature, the Fil-Am has filmmaker worked on the stunt teams for features like “Blade II” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember” in 2002. He then climbed the ranks as an assistant fight coordinator on “The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007) before becoming an actual fight coordinator on “Iron Man 2” (2010), “The Avengers” (2012), and “John Wick” (2014).

Eusebio became a household name after he landed the job as stunt coordinator for “Black Panther” and “Deadpool 2” in 2018. He is now set to wear a new hat as director in the upcoming action-comedy film “Love Hurts.”

On Instagram, Eusebio shared the film’s official poster and expressed his enthusiasm after the official trailer had been officially released. 

“It’s been a wild week! The trailer for “Love Hurts” (formerly known as “With Love”) has dropped. This experience exceeds my wildest expectations,” he captioned his post.

“Love Hurts” introduces Huy Quan as Marvin Gable, an ordinary realtor whose dark past continues to haunt him. Using Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” as the background music, the trailer sees Huy Quan trying to escape dangerous situations as he fights his old enemies.

The film is also set to mark Huy Quan’s first official lead role after he won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once” last year.

“[Huy Quan] was winning awards, and he was giving all these inspiring speeches. 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.’” Eusebio told THR.

“Love Hurts” premieres in cinemas on Feb. 7, 2025.