Lucy Liu Opens Up About Bill Murray’s ‘Unacceptable and Inexcusable’ Insults on ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Set

Actor Bill Murray and actress Lucy Liu worked together on the set of the movie “Charlies Angles.” Liu stared in the movie as one of the three “angles” along with actresses Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. Murray played a character named Bosley.

It is rumored that Murray and Liu didn’t get along on the set of the movie, and on the podcast “Asian Enough,” Liu opened up about what happened on set.

Liu explained, “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.”

At first, Liu didn’t know who Murray was talking to. She explained, “I was, like, ‘Wow, he seems like he’s looking straight at me.’ I couldn’t believe that [the insults] could be towards me, because what do I have to do with anything majorly important at that time?“

She was still in disbelief and literally looked over her should to see if there was someone behind her that he was talking to. She said, “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.”

It sounds like this was anything but a friendly conversation. Lui explained, “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.”

Murray does not deny the rumors, but he is just as vague as Liu about what specifically was said. In 2009, when he was asked about the rumor, he responded by saying, “I will dismiss you completely if you are unprofessional and working with me.” 

Does that mean that Murray thought Liu was being unprofessional? It sounds like it. Yet, Liu’s perspective is that she wasn’t doing anything wrong and was surprised that Murray was even talking to her.

Whatever happened, it seems that the two actors aren’t holding a grudge. Liu explained, “I’ve seen him since then at an ‘SNL’ reunion, and he came up to me and was perfectly nice.” She said, “I have nothing against Bill Murray at all.”