Lucy Liu was just as I
expected her to be. Bubbly, vibrant
and of course beautiful!! She’s a little fireball and you just can’t
help but be drawn to her giggly personality. She
is definitely the kind of girl I could see myself hanging with and having a
blast with! Liu’s career exploded when she starred in the blockbuster
films, CHARLIE’S ANGELS and KILL BILL. Suffice
to say she does an excellent job of kicking ass in both roles, but I still
favor her memorable performance as Ling Woo on “Ally McBeal”.

In the upcoming film LUCKY
NUMBER SLEVIN, she takes on an almost comedic role of the
curious and adorable neighbor, who rambles on and on.
Liu and Hartnett have apparent chemistry and it shines through in the
film. While I was contemplating a way
of asking Liu to have a few martinis with me without giving her the wrong
impression, check out what she had to say.

Lucy
Liu

I
saw 3 Needles the other night. Can you talk about it?

You did? When? Where? Oh
sure. My character is basically buying blood and the whole movie revolves
around HIV & AIDS and the issue and there not sterilizing them.
They’re placing them back & people have been using the same
needles and you sort of realize that properly these needles are everywhere
and shipped out & who knows what. Its sort of cyclical so its really an
interesting story. It’s important. I mean they made it for 2 million
dollars and its shot so well. I’m very proud of that movie. I’m so
glad you brought it up.

At one point, Chinese
authorities find you and put you in the back of a truck.

Yeah. Well she sort of
bargains. She bargains for that.

Well,
you’re pregnant.

I’m pregnant but who
cares! Seemingly more attractive when pregnant!

How did you get
involved in this movie LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN?

I met Jason Smilovic the
writer for another project and I had read this script and after we met we
sort of got along like a house on fire. Then after that he called and said,
actually we got an offer would you be interested in being attached to this
movie and I was like sure, and at the time, the role was more minimal and
once the movie actually got green lighted and Josh came on board and Paul
came in board it became sort of snowballed into something and then he
started writing for all the people that came on board.
Bruce came on board then sir Ben and then Morgan and then the
character.

He said there are some
changes and I looked at the script and there were monologues! And I went,
what do you mean like changes. These are like major changes. The character
has developed into this incredible colorful dynamic woman so I was like, I
better start learning lines now! You know, before she would like run in and
leave. And now she came in and she’d speak a lot and then she’d run out
you know so that was part of her. I think he has a really good rhythm for
all the different characters. Every character has a different energy and a
different way they speak and to me it’s very musical.

How would you describe
her?

She doesn’t have any
punctuation in her sentences and I don’t think she has any judgment. She
doesn’t think that people judge her. She comes in and she does her thing
and she leaves. She’s not very insecure like that. Maybe she’s a little
shy about relationships but even then she’ll ask the person out. She
doesn’t have any problems. Even if the person said no, she’d be fine
with it, you know. For example when she comes in and tells him that he’s
been set up and he’s gotta get out of town there’s a moment where its
revealed that she’s a coroner and she’s like. There’s a moment of
levity and lightness because she’s really like hey, that’s my personal
life but hey you’re gonna get killed so anyway let’s get out of here.
But that’s just who she is. She kind of bounces back and forth so
there’s a really good energy about her that I found really attractive.

Are you similar to her
in any way?

I don’t want to say. I
try to just do. You know when you get to know somebody too well you get to
see all the time. If I see this person in tabloids I don’t need to go and
see them in movies you know. But for me I just like to stay out of the
limelight that way.

Do you want to be
mysterious?

I don’t want to be
mysterious. But if people go you’re such a bitch in that movie, I just go
great, fine, whatever. What are you gonna do. If that’s what you think of
the character then that’s fine, you know. That’s your opinion

.

But
you speak with punctuation.

I do.

And
you said shy. She seems to be excited seeing Josh walking around in a towel.

She totally has a crush on
him. I mean she meets him and immediately she’s shocked because she’s
expecting her friend, her neighbour. You know when you meet somebody and you
have a crush on them. I mean she probably talks a lot anyway but I think she
talks even more when she’s around him.

Did
you play the character exactly as it was written or did you shape her as you
went along?

The dialogue is exactly as
it’s written. There’s no improvisation. The movement and all that is
because Paul came along and said we have this big set; we want you to use it
so I went all right. So they ended up moving the entire set.
They let the camera just move with us, which was just great.

How did you prepare for
the love scenes with Josh?

There was no preparation.
You just sort of show up and you shoot it. I mean you can’t really prepare
for that, you know what I mean.

Did you just jump into
bed and say, hello, here’s a breath mint?

Um, I don’t know. By that
time we were very comfortable with each other and it wasn’t like a big
deal do you know what I mean. I think sometimes people start love scenes in
the movie earlier on just in case you know you don’t end up getting along
with the person and by that stage you like hate each other, but we didn’t
have that problem. We were really comfortable with one another.

Did you hang out off
set?

Yeah. I went to his place
with the guys and we watched movies and things like that.

Were you watching film
noirs?

No. What we saw after we
watched the movie was sisco Friday. I’d seen it already but I was like
oh my god. Our relationship is this movie and I was like, I know crazy. But
you know. It’s different from theatre. In theatre you get on stage and two
hours later you’re done and you find performances within the performance
but I think in film you don’t want to over rehearse it because it just
becomes not spontaneous and there’s a certain energy that’s lot.
Especially if its, its not like they’d been sleeping together very much.
She met him and then she was in bed with him.

Was this a conscious
decision to do a role that was different?

I think what I would like
to do is just work with people that I enjoy working with and I think the
most important thing is to work with people that I enjoy working with and to
work on projects that you feel like you can bring something special to it
and to me, that’s more vital than being a lead. Like with

Chicago

I felt like I could do something special with that role even if it was a
cameo. Even in “Three Needles”. It’s not about screen time
it’s about what you can bring.

And if there is a great
role and director, fantastic but if it’s a great director and you don’t
know what you can do to bring that role to life then you have to say, and
I’ve said that before, I would love to work with you but I don’t think I
can bring something special to this role, do you know what I mean? I don’t
see it on the paper. If it’s gonna be shot that way, I don’t want to
come into something and not be able to bring something to it. You may as
well find someone who can actually do that. I don’t think you should work
just for the sake of work. I mean sometimes it’s good because you can just
get moving but you know. I did episodes of Joey because matt Leblanc came on
and did a huge thing for us for Charlie’s angels in his crazy schedule.
And it was really fun working on that and I love doing stuff in front of an
audience so you know, that was kind of a no-brainer for me. There’s not
like a whole plan behind what I’m doing.

Are you surprised at
how well your career is going?

You don’t have a big TV
series boosting your name recognition? But I have done a lot of television
before and I feel like that has been incredibly helpful just for
recognition. People are more willing to put you in a movie if they feel like
you have name value and sometimes that helps and sometimes that hurts
because you just can’t have enough name value but at the same time certain
things happen for a certain reason. If
you don’t get a role or if things don’t work out the way you think they
are gonna work out maybe it pushes you in a different direction.

People always say what
movie would you of done if you could of done it and I’m like, well that
person has already done it. I
can’t possibly do anything else to it, you know what I mean. I think
it’s different when you do theatre because you can bring something to it.
It’s a different performance. Different directors. Different times. But
for movies and for film I don’t try and predict where things are going but
I‘ve had really great opportunities to work with really great people and
it’s turned out well. It’s not like I wouldn’t do another action movie
that’s great and it’s interesting to me to do things that are different
to you know. But I don’t always think you should do one thing. One of the
things that I have that have been popular is action films. Other things
haven’t been as popular so people don’t really see them but I know that
I’ve done them.

I did read that after
you made Charlie’s Angels that you wanted to do some more serious roles.

I didn’t say more serious
roles because it was fun doing that but I did say well you know, I was
saying to those guys in the other room, if you do something really well then
they want to keep seeing you do it. They want Paul (dir) to keep doing
gangster movies and I think Paul doesn’t want to keep doing gangster
movies. He happened to do a great job on that one and other things he’s
done. He’s really got a
romantic heart & wants to do love stories and I told him that I think
Slevin is a love story between sir Ben and Morgan and Josh and I and Josh
and Bruce and to me that’s how I saw it and how I ended up playing it but
to me I don’t. If you’re too good at something people want to keep
seeing that on screen. Then the battle becomes getting people to see you in
something different Well for me, it’s not about a battle. I think for the
team of people I work with properly. But for me they know what I’m capable
of and what I can do so once I get in the room and we shoot that’s just
what I bring you know.

Did you have a lot of
fun on set working with the all-star crew?

I did. I mainly worked with
Josh because most of my scenes were with him. But I came on set, I sat on
the sidelines and just watched sir Ben & Josh do their scenes because
they were just so incredible. I mean I wish I had more with Morgan and all
those guys but they’re in the movie and that’s a lot

It’s
a pretty male dominated set. Did
u miss the female camaraderie? How was it hanging out with the guys on and
off set?

Um. There were so many
women in the crew that I didn’t really think about it. Because people were
like, you’re the only one that was a female in the movie, and I was like
“Was I?” To me there was so much energy that was feminine there and so I
didn’t think that much about it and there just happened to be a lot of
producers that were male but some of them are such girls anyway that I
didn’t think that they were actually all male energy!

What would you say was
the biggest break you’ve had so far in your career?

In my career, I think Ally
McBeal. I think that was the cross over because television reaches everyone.
Cause if I like go to

Spain

or if I travel people always bring up Ally McBeal. And Ally McBeal hits a
very different crowd 30 and over. And then Charlie’s Angeles is much
younger. This little kid came up to me and he could barely walk and he said
are you Charlie’s Angel?! And
he had no teeth! It was so cute but different people see different things
you know and to me that was too adorable.

Do you miss Ally McBeal?

I miss it but I see the
people still. Like I was in

London

and I saw Jane doing Guys and Dolls. I saw her do Nine. I see Greg, I see
Peter. We all had dinner about a year ago.

Do you see an Ally
McBeal re-union movie coming out in a few years?

I don’t think so. I mean
if there was an Ally McBeal reunion movie I don’t know if anyone would buy
the ticket. Because it’s like something you have in your living room and
you have in your home. And you watch it in your pajamas and your take out
food.

What about Charlie’s
Angels would you do another one?

I would love to do another
one. That would be so much fun. I don’t know what’s happening with that.
It’s not like I have the say, to say, I want to do this movie, cause
there’s so much production value in that you know. Unless we decide to do
an indie Charlie’s Angels!

Do you keep in contact
with Drew & Cameron?

Yeah. I see them a lot.

Do you have a favourite
summer food & why?

Sushi. I actually eat it
all the time because its light and sometimes I can just run into some place
that has taken out or it’s pre-packaged. You know it’s finger food. So
it’s easy. And I’m not a huge soy sauce person. Lots of people ask, do
you want soy sauce, do you want soy sauce. I’m like. I¹ll tell you
something. Asian people don¹t actually use soy sauce a lot. White people
do. They just put it in their rice. They put it everywhere. They treat it
like ketchup! I’m like, you don’t really see Asian people using soy
sauce, just so you know, but you can put it all up in there if you want! So
it’s not that messy for me because I don’t dip the pieces in the soy
sauce.

As
an Asian American actress, this role in lucky number Slevin could have been
played by anyone. Do you call that colour-blind casting do you find that you
are not type cast into any one type of role?

I think it varies. I mean I
think I’ve had the opportunity to go to hello kitty and Ally McBeal and
Charlie’s Angels. Like I had gone to David and I said because originally I
wasn’t going to be able to work out in the schedule because it was a
difficult schedule and I said you know can I speak to David.

David who?

Kelly. And I went up to him
and I said this is not Shakespeare but it represents something much bigger
than that. It represents

America

breaking that mould. Without being political. Without making a statement, it
makes a statement. And he got it. He could of easily have said we can’t do
it, it’s gonna screw up the schedule and he didn’t. He understood what I
was saying and he made it happen, do you know what I mean. It has changed
things where people don’t talk about it, and go, oh my god your Asian and
you’re a Charlie’s Angel.

They just say, you’re in
Charlie’s Angels. And that’s so nice because you are now part of all the
kids around. They know that’s
the given. Just like in geometry. There’s a given and there’s a proof
and they don’t need to prove anything. It is what it is and that for me
makes me feel good because I know growing up for me I did not have that.
I didn’t know that it could be. You see what it is and your parents
are all that you have, you accept what it is.
You don’t go and change that mould.