Lucy Liu Speaks Out About Altercation With Bill Murray On Charlie’s Angels Set

Lucy Liu has finally gone into detail about her much-rumored clash with Bill Murray while filming the hit film Charlie's Angels.

By Nathan Kamal | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Lucy Liu Bill Murray

Lucy Liu has spoken out about the alleged altercation she had with comic actor Bill Murray on the set of the 2000 film Charlie’s Angels. There have been persistent rumors for decades that Liu and Murray had clashed on the set of the hit McG movie. While being interviewed on a recent episode of the Asian Enough podcast, hosted by Johana Bhuiyan, she went into detail about what had gone down with Murray. This is particularly notable in the wake of recent reports that a Bill Murray-starring film abruptly shut down production after a complaint of alleged inappropriate behavior from the actor. Lucy Liu told her side of the story on the podcast, reinforcing that she had stood up for herself against the legendary comedian at the time and had no regrets about it. 

Lucy Liu

According to Lucy Liu, during the course of filming Charlie’s Angels, a scene involving the pair of them had been rewritten prior to filming (a very common practice in filmmaking). In this case, Bill Murray had been away from the production to attend a family gathering and was unaware of the changes that had been made to the scene. As Liu put it, during production, Murray began to verbally target her and “to sort of hurl insults” while looking directly at her. She described confusion as to what was going on in the moment, as it seemed that Murray was ascribing some kind of blame to Liu for the rewrite. Liu stressed that she had nothing to do with the changes to the scene and, in fact, as the last one cast for the film, felt she generally had the least amount of creative input to the film. Lucy Liu went on to state that at some point Murray’s language towards her became “ inexcusable and unacceptable,” and that she addressed it to defend herself at the time, despite the wide disparity in their status at the time. 

The altercation between the two was noted in the press at the time, though not directly confirmed by either star. Lucy Liu says that she holds no ill will towards Bill Murray and that the two of them eventually reconciled at least to the point of polite interaction. She also stated her particular sensitivity to demeaning and condescending language, telling an anecdote of her as a child witnessing her immigrant mother being talked down by a store employee. 


The confirmation of this incident by Lucy Liu comes at a time when Bill Murray may be in trouble for his general behavior. He is set to star in Being Mortal along with Aziz Ansari (who is also writing, directing, and producing the film) and Seth Rogen; the production shut down unexpectedly, with reports indicating that Murray was being investigated for inappropriate behavior. Although the actor is beloved for his frequent quirky behavior off-camera, he also has a long history of clashing with collaborators and difficult behavior. Lucy Liu is set to star in the animated adaptation of the popular game ​​Exploding Kittens, as well as the anticipated upcoming DCEU film Shazam! Fury of the Gods.