Ariana DeBose got injured 'every day' filming action rom-com “Love Hurts”: 'It comes with the territory'

Atomic Blonde superfan Ariana DeBose had a blast channeling her inner Charlize Theron for her new action rom-com Love Hurts — even if it meant a daily dose of injuries.

From veteran stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio (John Wick, Black Panther) in his directorial feature debut, the flick follows Marvin Garble (Ke Huy Quan), a realtor in the Milwaukee suburbs with a dark past. A former henchman for his crime boss brother Alvin "Knuckles" Gable (a boba-slurping Daniel Wu), Marvin managed to leave his life of crime behind — that is, until DeBose's fiery Rose Carlisle, his former partner-in-crime he left for dead, re-enters his life. And she's bent on revenge against those who wronged her.

Related: Ke Huy Quan is a 'different kind of action star' in exclusive Love Hurts first look: 'A badass doesn't have to look like a badass'

Like Quan — who only agreed to the role if he could do his own stunts like the icons before him (Jet Li! Sammo Hung!) — DeBose insisted on doing her fight scenes herself. “Part of the appeal, aside from working with Ke, was having an opportunity to do the fight sequences,” DeBose tells Entertainment Weekly in a joint interview with Quan. “I love action films, fell in love with Atomic Blonde, and I was like, ‘Oh! I want to be as fierce as Charlize one day!’ This was a cool opportunity to work with a group of people who know how to do this.”

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That determination, however, culminated in injuries "every day" on set. "I remember Ari showing me [her arm and saying], 'Look at this, Ke. Is this normal?'" Quan recalls. "I said, 'Sorry, Ari, it is. That's what it takes to make these.'"

"You don't realize it's happened until after the fact" on account of being so immersed in the scene, notes DeBose. But there was one injury she definitely felt in the moment: "I did take a shoulder to the nose, which hurt," she says. It occurred with just one day left of filming and during a climactic fight sequence that involves Knuckles and his cronies.

"It was a rough moment. I'm not going to lie," she admits. "But it comes with the territory. It's kind of like earning your stripes. If you freeze-frame towards the end of Rose's fighting, you'll probably notice my nose is a little swollen. But I do come from the theater, and in the theater, we say, 'The show must go on.'"

Related: Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose pay tribute to Chita Rivera, West Side Story's original Anita

The West Side Story alum compares fight sequences to "a dance," albeit an aggressive one — and, of course, the former Broadway star and Tony Award nominee knows a thing or two about dance. "I didn't necessarily train any differently for that aspect of it," DeBose says of the core exercises she and Quan underwent months before filming. "I just went in and did the thing and had a damn good time doing it."

Still, Quan remembers the quiet hush and gasps that fell over the room when DeBose's injury happened. "There was just silence on set," he recalls. "But she toughed it out." Both stars were all in, injuries be damned. "Doing a movie like this has been a dream of mine [since] I was younger," Quan says. "The reason why I wanted to study martial arts is because I wanted to do it in movies. I'm influenced by all those incredible action stars that came before this. The fight scenes that I love watching over and over again are when you can clearly see it's the actor doing them. It wasn't easy. You really go at it, and what that means is a lot of bruises, a lot of aches and pains."

They loved every minute of it, though. And love, well... hurts. 

Love Hurts hits theaters on Friday.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly