Forget Charlie. Good morning to only Lucy Liu, who is finally addressing the long-standing rumors over her clash with co-star Bill Murray on the set of “Charlie’s Angels.”
Liu was one part of the crime-fighting triumvirate alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz at the center of the 2000 blockbuster, which also starred the comedy legend as the group’s right-hand man, Bosley.
While the film is fondly remembered for its physics-defying, ass-kicking fun, reports of a behind-the-scenes feud between Liu and Murray have popped up over the years with an account of their fight going viral on Twitter earlier this month.
Speaking on the Los Angeles Times podcast “Asian Enough” on Tuesday, Liu finally shared her side of the story, confirming that Murray indeed verbally attacked her on set after becoming frustrated during rehearsal for a scene.
“We had taken the weekend to rework that particular scene and Bill Murray was not able to come because he had to attend some family gathering,” she explained. “So it was everyone else, and we just made the scene more fluid.”
As filming for the scene began, Liu said, Murray started “to sort of hurl insults” her way and “kept going on and on.” His anger caught her off guard, given Liu had the “least amount of privilege, in terms of creatively participating” on the film, which was co-produced by Barrymore’s company Flower Films.
“I was, like, ‘Wow, he seems like he’s looking straight at me.’ I couldn’t believe that it could be towards me, because what do I have to do with anything majorly important at that time?” Liu said. “I say, ‘I’m so sorry. Are you talking to me?’ ― and clearly he was, because then it started to become a one-on-one communication.”
“If you confront me I will attack and that’s exactly what happened because it was unjust and it was uncalled for,” she added.
While Liu said she remembers the moment “very intimately,” she didn’t go into the specifics of Murray’s alleged attacks, only describing his language as “inexcusable and unacceptable.”
“I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it,” she said. “Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down.”
Despite Murray’s outburst, which Liu said was witnessed by the cast and crew, the press “automatically thought that the woman was the difficult one,” as news stories surrounding the event painted her in a negative light.
Still, the “Why Women Kill” star says that she doesn’t hold a grudge against Murray, who opted not to return for the film’s sequel, “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” three years later.
“I have nothing against Bill Murray at all. I’ve seen him since then at an ‘SNL’ reunion, and he came up to me and was perfectly nice,” she said. “But I’m not going to sit there and be attacked.”
Liu has, however, stayed close to both Barrymore and Diaz, with her former co-stars cheering her on at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2019.
The trio also reunited on the inaugural episode of “The Drew Barrymore Show” and reflected on their 20-plus-year bond.
“The thing that I love about our friendship is that we have been there in all the big and important moments. We’ve also been there in the small moments and the casual moments and the reason we are such good friends is because it’s real and we go through real stuff with each other,” Barrymore said. “It’s not a Hollywood fairy tale.”