The Goonies Star Ke Huy Quan Reveals Never Before Told Story Behind Data’s Most Famous Line

The Goonies star Ke Huy Quan says Data and Mikey’s famous booty/booby trap exchange was inspired [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo - August 31, 2019 11:02 pm EDT

The Goonies star Ke Huy Quan says Data and Mikey's famous booty/booby trap exchange was inspired by an on-set misunderstanding with co-star Sean Astin.

"I've never told this story before. It's not in the script," Quan said at FAN EXPO Canada, where he reunited with Astin and co-star Corey Feldman. "Sean pulled me aside, he said, 'Hey, Ke, let's rehearse lines.' So we walked off the set and we're rehearsing lines, and it starts, 'Hey, Data, where you going?' 'I'm setting booty traps.' He goes, 'Ke, you mean booby traps.' I said, 'Yeah, that's what I said! Booby traps!'"

He continued: "We both paused, we looked at each other, and Sean said, 'Let's do it exactly like that.' And it ended up being one of the more famous Data lines that I get to quote all the time."

Because the young stars were famously encouraged by director Richard Donner to improvise, Astin name-dropped younger brother Mackenzie, who "couldn't be part of the movie."

"When the Fratellis are shooting at us, when we've walked across slick shoes ... when they shoot and the bullet goes off the rock, and I go, 'Holy Mackenzie,'" Astin said. "I say, 'Can I say that?' [Donner] goes, 'Sure!' His attitude was basically, if a kid's gonna do it, if you're actually doing it in your life and you wanna say that, it should be in the movie."

"Yeah, that's what's so great about Dick Donner, and I think it played off really well on screen. He allowed us to be who we are," added Quan. "There was a lot of improvisation. I remember they were all constantly swearing and I made a promise to my mom that I can't swear in the movie. And I said, 'I want to be one of them, I want to swear.' So instead of swearing, I said, 'Holy s-h-i-t!' And Dick allowed that. He's like, 'Oh, you want to do it? Go for it. Have fun with it.'"

Asked about a long-teased sequel or reboot at the convention, Astin said, "Someday it'll happen."