Derober has an interesting feature on “6 Crazy Hollywood Stories You Probably Haven’t Heard,” which are amusing and interesting enough, but the one that caught our eye and the most probable one given all we’ve learned about Bill Murray lately.
You’ll recall his recent divorce news in which he was accused of a serious ill-temper problem (beating his wife) and the fact, very much like his surly ‘Life Aquatic’ character Steve Zissou, he enjoys the doobage and going on many an offshore drunk. So the story of Murray and why he didn’t appear as Bosley again in “Charlie’s Angels 2” (though the uber-arrogant James Cameron “Aliens” story is rather delicious as well) is rather interesting and telling given his behavior.
The story seems rather simple when you think of it. Murray has notoriously never suffered fools gladly and well, given that, he apparently hated actress Lucy Liu. People magazine had already reported that the two butted heads on set, and there was a major altercation on set as Murray “loudly complained about Liu’s [acting techniques], and Liu fired back — causing fellow actors, including Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz, to flee for their trailers and for shooting to cease for the day.” Well, it appears this was one major delicate euphemism. Derober writes:
“What actually transpired was much more intense. Bill Murray stopped a scene in progress and pointed to Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu saying in order, “I get why you’re here, and you’ve got talent….but what in the hell are you doing here. You can’t act!” At that, Liu blew her lid and attacked Murray, wildly throwing punches. The actors had to be separated to opposite corners of the room while they lobbed verbal hand grenades at each other.With a Columbia Pictures gun to their heads, both actors would publicly downplay in incident but insiders know better. Bill Murray would not do any sequel with Liu attached and was subsequently replaced by Bernie Mac.”
Is this why Liu’s acting work has been relegated to shitty B-movies with Antonio Banderas and TV? One thing is for sure, Bill Murray is much like his characters and is generally the wrong dude to fuck with.