Lucy Liu Opens Up About Dispute With Bill Murray on ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Set

Lucy Liu is opening up about the alleged dispute she had with Bill Murray while filming Charlie’s Angels.

While speaking with the Los Angeles Times‘ Asian Enough podcast, the actress said that though she wouldn’t “get into the specifics,” there was a moment where she stood up to Murray while on set of the 2000 film. She recalls the cast performing a scene rehearsal that Murray could not join because he had to attend a family gathering. However, things took a turn when he returned to set and, she says, began to “hurl insults” that “kept going on and on.”

“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?” she said.

Related Stories

Movies

'The Garfield Movie' Review: Chris Pratt Voices the Tubby Tabby in a Toon That Fails Both Kids and Their Parents

Movies

'Ghostbusters' Star Ernie Hudson Talks Inequitable Treatment, Pay Disparity: "It's Not Quite That Simple" to Blame Racism

Liu said she proceeded to ask if he was speaking to her, explaining that it became more apparent he was when it “started to become a one-on-one communication.”

“It was unjust and it was uncalled for. 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,” she added. “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 and nor did I.”

The Hollywood Reporter reached out to a representative for Murray for comment.

Years later, Liu says former crewmembers would express to her how “grateful” they were that she did what she did. Despite the confrontation, Liu emphasized she has “nothing against” the actor and they have since seen each other while at a Saturday Night Live reunion. “He came up to me and was perfectly nice. But I’m not going to sit there and be attacked,” she said.

She added that she doesn’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 at the end of the day.

“Because in the end, we all end up in the same place as time goes on,” she added. “Nobody is immortal. But in that time, no matter what happens between now and whatever career choices I make or whatever life decisions I make, I will walk away with my dignity.”

Liu also mentioned that when reports of their confrontation first surfaced, she thought it was “incredible” to see how things were “turned around” in the press and people “automatically thought that the woman was the difficult one.

“I didn’t understand how it got flipped when I had nothing to do with instigating it or creating that platform of confrontation or anxiety. So even though it’s been decades, it’s something that obviously I remember very intimately,” Liu shared.