Loki’s Ke Huy Quan Was Inspired by His Character in The Goonies, and Had A Great Mentor in Tom Hiddleston

Loki actor Ke Huy Quan has been on quite a journey in the last few years, and it is a long way from being over. However, for his Marvel role, the actor looked back to his past to find inspiration for his character of Ouroboros, in the iconic ’80s movie, The Goonies.

During a recent chat with Variety, Quan explained how joining one of the most popular shows of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was an extremely daunting prospect, but one that was made a little easier thanks to some advice given to him by Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston.

In Disney+’s Loki Quan plays Ouroboros (aka OB), the head of the Repairs and Advancement Department of the Time Variance Authority. As one of the new additions to the cast, the Everything Everywhere All at Once star admitted that he “was a bit intimidated” when he first joined the show. Quan said:

“I didn’t know how I would fit in. From the get go, I felt this warmth, this beautiful acceptance with everybody’s wide open arms. They brought me in, and I felt right at home. It was wonderful.”

When asked what inspiration helped him bring his Loki character to life, Quan revealed how his character from The Goonies influenced his choices for Ouroboros. The actor added:

“In the process of trying to fine tune how I want to play him, something dawned on me. I realized that this character is familiar to me. I think I know who he is. I have to go back 35 years ago, when I play Data on ‘The Goonies.'”

RELATED: Ke Huy Quan Teared up When Offered a Role in Loki: ‘Joining the MCU Was at the Top of My Wishlist’

Ke Huy Quan Said He Views Ouroboros “As a Variant of Data”

Loki’s second season has bucked the trend for declining interest in the Marvel Studios franchise, posting some of the best viewing figures and reviews of any Marvel series. Quan’s quirky character is certainly one of the best additions to the new season, but even the popularity of his new role cannot outshine the memories many fans have of his character in The Goonies. This partly influenced how Quan approached Ouroboros. Quan added:

“So many fans have come up to me, and the most asked question was, ‘Will there be a ‘Goonies 2′? And what is Data doing as an adult?’ This character of Ouroboros is kind of my answer to that. I view him as a variant of Data. What’s really interesting is, on my first day, I’m in full hair and makeup and costume. I’m walking to the Ouroboros set. They built this amazing set on the second biggest stage at Pinewood Studios. I look up and I see the name of the stage is ‘Roger Moore.’ Now as we all know, Data loves James Bond. The character 007 inspires him tremendously. So I feel like there’s some cosmic connections to this character and Data. Playing him was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had.”

Later, while reflecting on how he mastered his character’s technical dialogue, Quan revealed how Tom Hiddleston ultimately helped the actor with his performance as OB. Quan said:

“I even asked Tom Hiddleston. In Episode 6, he was just spitting out that dialogue at 100 miles per hour. I was blown away by his performance. I said, ‘Tom, how do you do that?’ It comes so naturally for him. He talked about his method. He showed me how to do it. And of course, you know, I practiced it, and it worked.”

When further probed about exactly what it was the Thor star taught him, Quan stated, “Well, I mean, there’s no secret to it. It’s really looking at the dialogue and reading it very, very slowly the first few times, and then as you become more comfortable with it, then you start picking it up. It’s just that repetition, but start very slow. I do the opposite. I jump right in and I’ll practice it as if I will be saying it in camera. But his process is just start very slow and familiarize yourself with every single word. That’s the method that I’ve been using ever since.”

The entire second season of Loki is now available to stream on Disney+.