Actress Lucy Liu claimed that Bill Murray “hurled insults” at her during the filming of Charlie’s Angels.
Liu finally addressed claims that she and her co-star did not get along when making the 2000 movie. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times’ Asian Enough podcast, she said: “When we started to rehearse this scene, which was all of us in the agency, 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. So it was everyone else, and we just made the scene more fluid.
“I wish I had more to do with it but I didn’t, because I was the last one cast and I probably had the least amount of privilege in terms of creatively participating at that time.
“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 couldn’t believe that [the comments] could be towards me, because what do I have to do with anything majorly important at that time? 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.”
Liu does not regret calling Murray out for his behaviour, as reported by 8days.sg.
She continued: “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.”
According to Liu, 52, people who worked on the film have praised her years later for how she conducted herself that day.
She said: “I remember years later, maybe even decades later, some crew members that I didn’t even know at the time came up to me on other sets and told me that they were there at the time, and they were really grateful that I did that.”
Murray, now 70, addressed the altercation to The Times of London in 2009. “Look, I will dismiss you completely if you are unprofessional and work with me,” he said then. “When our relationship is professional, and you’re not getting that done, forget it.”
But Liu insisted she doesn’t hold a grudge against Murray.
She said: “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. But I’m not going to sit there and be attacked.”/TISG