Goonies never say die; what they will do is carefully evaluate a contract and help an actor get the best deal possible. At least, that’s what Jeff Cohen, a.k.a. Chunk, has been up to in recent years, and he’s done so on behalf of his old co-star Ke Huy Quan for his triumphant comeback role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
“Jeff Cohen, who was in The Goonies with me—he was Chunk—is all grown now and he’s an entertainment lawyer,” Quan told The Hollywood Reporter Actor Roundtable. “When the producer of our movie was trying to make my deal, he said he never imagined that he’d have to talk to Chunk and Data for his movie.”
Yet it makes a certain sort of sense when it comes to EEAAO, a movie so outrageous and so chock-full of cinematic references. Why shouldn’t another Goonie be involved behind the scenes? Fellow roundtable participant Adam Sandler asked, “Chunk get you a good deal, by the way?” To which Quan replied: “Jeff is an outstanding lawyer.”
It’s lucky that Quan had a friend on his side, because it had been a long time since his last foray into Hollywood. “I was so hungry for a script like this, for a role like this. I remember reading it until 5 a.m., and in my head I had all these ideas of what I wanted to do with this role,” he shared. “I was looking out the window, the sun was rising, and I said, ‘I have to go to sleep,’ because my audition was in the afternoon. It had been more than 25 years since I’d auditioned—I was so nervous, I was shaking.”
“The Daniels were so sweet. Sarah Finn, the casting director, was amazing. And then I didn’t hear from them for two months,” Quan recalled. “I was miserable because I wanted this role so bad. Finally, I went to audition for a second time, and then that phone call came. I was screaming so loud. I was jumping up so high. And to this day, I still cannot believe how everything came to be.”