Lucy Liu, star of Charlie’s Angels and its 2003 sequel, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, has clarified rumors surrounding her on set fight with co-star Bill Murray. The two actors had worked together on the first Charlie’s Angels film, but an apparent considerable argument between the two had reportedly led Murray not to return for Full Throttle. Since the release of Charlie’s Angels, Liu and Murray have never worked together again in any capacity.
Throughout his lengthy career, Murray has established himself as not just a comedic star, but also something of a man of the people. His reputation for placing himself in the least likely of scenarios for a star of his caliber is almost as legendary as he is. As a matter of fact, in 2018, a handful of these accounts were immortalized in the feature length documentary, The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From a Mythical Man. Back in 2000, however, he was just beginning to enjoy a resurgence in his career that would make him the hero of an all new generation, even resulting in his first and only Oscar nomination to date, for Sofia Coppola’s acclaimed Lost in Translation. In direct contrast to this status was Liu, whose film career was just beginning to build momentum when the two starred together in Charlie’s Angels.
After reportedly criticizing Liu for her willingness to say lines that Murray felt were incredibly poorly written, the two engaged in what is often described as a 15-20 minute shouting match on the set of Charlie’s Angels. That story has persisted for over two decades, and now Liu has given her side of things, courtesy of E! Online. Read what Liu said below:
"As we're doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won't get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on. I was, like, 'Wow, he seems like he's looking straight at me. I literally do the look around my shoulder thing, like, who is he talking to behind me? 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. Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable, and I was not going to just sit there and take it. So, yes, I stood up for myself, and I don't regret it. 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. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have. I'm not going to sit there and be attacked... I don't want to be that person that is not going to speak up for myself and stand by the only thing that I have, which is my dignity and self-respect.""
Strangely enough, back in 2003, Murray stated that the dispute was over the film’s dialogue, and that while he and Liu had indeed been involved in a considerable argument, they had long since made peace with one another. As a matter of fact, in Liu’s recent interview, she stated that she had “nothing against” Murray “at all.” Murray also stated in 2003 that the real reason he didn’t return for Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle was that he did not want to work with another member of the cast, not Liu.
Ultimately, what this entire incident can likely be attributed to is a relatively minor moment on the set of Charlie’s Angels that has been blown out of proportion with the passing of time. Yet, despite both Murray and Liu’s stories on what happened being somewhat similar, Liu still contends that Murray verbally attacked her. Exactly how things occurred will likely never be known, meaning that it’s probably best to just put this one to bed.
Source: E! Online