Spielberg and Lucas secretly gave 12-year-old Ke Huy Quan a share of Temple of Doom's profits

Two years after wrapping Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a 12-year-old Ke Huy Quan walked into his family's kitchen to find his parents standing at the table, speechless. His mother was holding an envelope with his name on it. His father had the papers from inside. They were both smiling — the kind of smile, Quan writes, 'that comes from surprise and disbelief mixed together.'

Inside was a check from Lucasfilm for nearly $100,000. Quan had already been paid for the film. He had no idea where the money had come from.

It was a check from Lucasfilm. It was for almost $100,000, an amount that didn't make any sense to me.— Ke Huy Quan, actor and author

The answer, as Quan explains in his new memoir Never Say Die — excerpted in Entertainment Weekly — was that producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg had quietly added a residuals clause to his contract, entitling him to a small percentage of the film's profits. Temple of Doom, the 1984 sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, earned more than $330 million at the box office. That tiny percentage added up.

Back then, almost no actors got a piece of a movie's profits. Even today, only the biggest stars do. That a kid like me, making his first film, would be included in something like that was unheard of.— Ke Huy Quan, actor and author

Quan, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once, got his start playing Short Round — Harrison Ford's resourceful young sidekick — in Temple of Doom at age 12. He describes the profit-sharing arrangement as 'a quiet gesture from Steven and George' that he only discovered after the fact.

And 'Temple of Doom' wasn't some small movie no one was expected to see. It was the sequel to a massive hit, a movie everyone knew would make a lot of money. That made their gesture even more generous.— Ke Huy Quan, actor and author

He called that small share 'life-changing for my family.'

The memoir also sheds light on Quan's relationship with Ford on set. He writes that Spielberg would send him over to Ford whenever the star was in a bad mood — something Quan says he was entirely unaware of at the time.

Whenever he was in a bad mood, Steven would tell someone, 'Send Ke over.' I had no idea any of that was happening. I just knew that whenever I walked up, Harrison softened a little or said, 'Hey, kid,' in that warm way he had.— Ke Huy Quan, actor and author

I just liked being near him, and he made me feel like he liked having me around too.— Ke Huy Quan, actor and author

Quan described his bond with Ford as being like that of an older brother. Never Say Die is available now.

Why it matters — The account offers a rare firsthand look at how two of Hollywood's most powerful filmmakers used a contract clause — quietly and without fanfare — to share a blockbuster's wealth with a first-time child actor, at a time when almost no one else did.

Reported by deadline.com, entertainmentnow.com, hollywoodreporter.com, movieweb.com