Lucy Liu - 'Rosemead' [LIVE]

25:31Scott Feinberg:But how did that first come about, and how did you process that that kind of a part could be possible when, as we've kind of established, it wasn't really before you did it? I mean, I can't, obviously, there have been Charlie's Angels, but there wasn't in the trio, anyone but Caucasian actresses, there weren't other franchise, big studio films like that. I mean, did you realize when it came along that it was kind of a very big deal? I did. At that point, I realized that it was significant and not because of the script. And I did go to David because I was under contract. And I said to him, I went to his office and he's very elusive and mysterious and wonderful and obviously very prolific.

26:23So I really didn't want to take up a lot of his time, but I said, David, this is not Shakespeare. I promise you. But it is something that is really important because it is going to change the way people see what an American angel is, right? Because it was such a... I mean, even though it was a short-lived series, it was entrenched in Americana. It became like a cheeseburger. It became that kind of thing. And I knew that normalizing that particular character would then hopefully become more ubiquitous. And that was my aim. My aim was to be a part of something that was going to normalize the view of what somebody who was different was going to look like and let the appetite increase for that and make it something that wasn't rejected and wasn't so terrifying for people.

27:27Scott Feinberg:Do you know whose idea it was initially to come to you with the part of Alex Monday? I don't. Do you? No, I mean the movie is obviously directed by both of them by McG. I assume he had a voice in it, but I don't know if it was originally his idea. I mean, I think that it might have been Leonard or that part of the team. And obviously, you know, the producers behind the scenes, I think they wanted somebody that was going to be a person of color. And obviously Cameron is also somebody who is a person of color. even though she's blonde. Karen Diaz. So I think it was important for them to change the narrative of what had been creative and make it something more.

28:18But even within that, if it wasn't about race, it suddenly became about gender, meaning there's three women together. They must be fighting. So there was all these rumors constantly about us fighting over, I don't even know what, turtlenecks. Like somebody's wearing a turtleneck and the other person can't wear a turtleneck. I mean, it was ridiculous. By the way, it's a summer movie. Nobody's going to be wearing a turtleneck necessarily. You know what I mean? So to me, there was so many misrepresented cues from society about if women can get along, that's impossible. Why have somebody that doesn't look like this in it?

28:57She's not Farrah Fawcett. She's not Kate Jackson. She's not Jacqueline Smith. Well, she's got darker hair, so maybe she's this. It was so strange. They kept trying to fit me into a test tube.

29:09Scott Feinberg:And just to note, so Cameron, you mentioned his camera, Diaz, Drew Barrymore, who was also one of the producers, right, of it, and you. So that's the trio. And I won't, you know, harp on this because I know you've been asked about this a lot. But just if that wasn't enough, the fabricated tensions supposedly between the principal stars, there also was this other situation with that where as a still up-and-coming kind of younger person in the business, you, I guess, had to kind of find the gumption to stand up for yourself in another context on this. And again, I'm not trying to push you to talk about something if you're tired of it or whatever, but just this was the thing with Bill Murray.

29:55Scott Feinberg:I guess the underlying question I want to ask is, where do you think you found the gumption might be the right word to stand up for yourself, given that this for you, again, the context is this is your first huge movie where you're one of the principals, and you had a lot on the line. I have to say that when it comes to defending myself, it's not even about gumption, it's just survival. So it could have been anybody, and I would have still stood up for myself. That is the kind of person that I am because of the background that I have. And, you know, our family has survived so many things. And to me, I wasn't looking at the outcome, you know, like she could be let go, what would happen, you know.

30:45So it was just an instinct. And I would have done that for anyone, not just myself. And that's something that I've always had. And I don't know that it would ever change. Because you cannot let somebody... I think I watched my parents tolerate it for so long. And as a child, there's a great sense of helplessness. But as somebody who's a young adult and had a voice, regardless of what the consequence was going to be, I was not going to tolerate any kind of hate speech, any kind of demeaning language and condescension when nothing had occurred. And so to me, it is a sense of humanity that I would have done for you, I would have done for a child, I would have done for anybody, a colleague, and I would still do that to this day.

31:44Scott Feinberg:your profile coming I guess coming into the release and certainly coming out of the release of the first of those two Charlie's Angels films it must have been a really interesting time for you it's not that you were not already a public figure from Ally McBeal and other things but I mean this is a different level you three are presenting at the Oscars in early 2000 your faces are all over the world on buses and subway stations and everything How did you, if you can take yourself back to that moment in time, acclimate to becoming pretty, not forget pretty, a very famous person? Pretty in what I don't mean, not that you weren't pretty, but yeah.

32:28I don't know. I don't think that I'm different from who I was even when I started. I think there's a great deal of appreciation for the work that I've done. and you know there's also going to be you know other opinions about that and I'm okay with that because I really don't read reviews and I think that it's important to stay close to what you're doing and the source of what you're doing and why you're doing it and I do want to bring up one other topic in general that I think that for women if you stand up for yourself there's a sense of entrapment and a sense of, I guess, judgment. And it's always tilted towards the woman that caused it and not the man.

33:14And that is something that I find to be so surprising and unfortunate and disappointing because people can recover oftentimes if you are the man but not the woman. And I find that to be a double-edged sword because that creates a community of people that don't feel like can speak for themselves and protect themselves and you know they they become vulnerable and unprotected in a way that could do serious hurt for them in the future there is in

33:49Scott Feinberg:between the two charlie's angels films a little movie called chicago where you come in and it's not that it's a huge part there's not a musical number or whatever but you you make a very memorable impression and have a funny line if I can quote back. Sure, I'm sorry. Sorry, I got caught. This is the woman who basically copies Velma and Roxy and kills her husband and the two women. Anyway, point is, I guess there's anything you'd want to say about that? And then leading into what has to be another one of your most familiar to people around the world roles, which is Oren Ishii, Chinese-Japanese-American former member of the Deadly Viper assassination squad, known at that time by her codename Cottonmouth, turned leader of a Tokyo gang called the Yakuza, if everyone can keep that straight, in Quentin Tarantino's fourth and fifth movies, Kill Bill, volume one and two.

34:51I think that the cameo in Chicago was just so much fun working with Rob Marshall and everyone else there. I mean, obviously it was an award-winning film that I was brought into just by luck and by chance. And the name of the character was Go to Hell Kitty. Because when people asked her something, she'd just say, go to hell. And I think that's a character with gumption. Right, right. And, you know, I got a call from Quentin, and he had said that he really admired the character that I played in Shanghai Noon, this princess that had to fight her way out and, you know, was looking out for her people.

35:34And that's what really got him by the heart. And I was so surprised because I wouldn't think that that would be the role, but that's how Quentin is. he's actually has such a big heart and he sent me the script and it read so beautifully like a novel it was one script at the time it didn't split into two until they started filming oh

35:57Scott Feinberg:interesting yeah and when people go back and watch it or even you know some of the things that have been written about it it's sort of described as almost like a live action cartoon just the heightened choreography and and confrontation out in the snow and all of that with I wonder with you if you when you specifically think back to that project what you know what comes to your mind first about the however long it was that you were you were on the set for that one and I guess primarily with with Uma right when I the first thing I was shooting um Charlie's Angels sequel at the time too so I was training for both and the martial arts is so different from the the sword fighting because you have to stay on the ground for the sword fighting like your feet are sliding around and because I had a tight schedule they shot my scene in the conference room running on the table and cutting the head off first that was the first shot of the movie and they shot it in China so it was such a big moment you know I didn't realize how big it was honestly like even until later you know I didn't because we shot it as an independent movie we were paid like scale for the movie and it was we were we shot it as an independent movie and we were all on board for it you know and Bob Richardson obviously was award-winning fantastic director of photography and his team we had this story that you know the most important thing about that character to me was to give her depth you know that she she was always gonna die by the sword because this was what she was born into this is what happened to her family and she was going to be a survivor and so the trauma that she had created who she was and she wasn't a monster she was a professional and she died as a professional as well and what what an honor to die by the hanzo sword right hattori hanzo like how if she died by any other way it would have been dishonorable that's right well you know i think it's the variety of things that you have done in your career can be encapsulated i guess in in just in those next few years there i'm going to just give a variety of a few a few things and and we've got the kung fu panda voice voice or this is people grew up on these, 2008, 2011, 2016.

38:35Scott Feinberg:You come into Southland as a cop in the fourth season, win a Critics' Choice Guest Acting Award for that, one of the great and I think still underappreciated shows of this kind of prestige TV era. And speaking of TV, I guess I wonder, you know, you were with Southland and with other things, but maybe leading up to elementary, more open to doing TV before it became the cool, even as it was just becoming the cool thing to do. Now it's sort of like, sure, why not? But at the time, it was kind of, for most of the history of TV, it was sort of stigmatized or whatever in a way. But here you are with elementary in particular, which I know is one that you're very proud of and rightly, and also got into directing while you were doing that.

39:23Scott Feinberg:But just, you know, this kind of gender swap version of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, now Joan Watson. I guess, though, just talk about TV and how the challenges of doing that and doing that well, how you feel about those versus film. And we should note, just a long question, but I just want to emphasize, that was seven seasons of Elementary. That's an hour-long drama. That is, with network TV, I forget the exact number of episodes a season. 24. That is no joke. Ten months out of the year, yeah. It was like a marathon. I think it was the greatest learning curve that I've had because I realized how much I can do and I don't know that I would have been able to know that I could do that until that show.

40:11And if you can do that, you can do anything. And I learned a plethora of things and tools to survive and to be better. It made me a better actor. I mean, theater does that, but network television was a drill. And to learn the lines, and it was a procedural, and to understand that this character was very different from the other characters that I played. She was a quieter character. She was somebody that listened and that was a support and that was a sober companion to begin with and then grew into her own person and own detective. And also having a lot of comments from people about the character being a female and being Asian, you know.

40:56So there was a double whammy against that as well. But knowing that there was a way forward and that all you had to do or all I did was take one step at a time.

41:07Scott Feinberg:And in terms of the directing, I mean, I think you did it for the first of seven times on that show in the second season. Also, in the last few years, overlapping and following that, you were directing a short film, 2014, Mina. Yes. You had episodes of Luke Gage, Law & Order SVU, American Born Chinese, and the list goes on. Just what appealed to you about directing, and is it something you want to do more of? I love directing because it is a full circle moment in your brain, and it requires all of the skills that you've had and you've learned and things that you should unlearn from other directors and other experiences.

41:48and I think it's a really wonderful way to understand how everything works and how things don't just show up. There's so many people behind the scenes that are creating that for the actors and how much effort is put into it. It's the best way to learn not just about that job but about life and about your own potential. And yes, I would like to and I think that I would like to continue doing it but maybe with more particular projects, maybe not as much with episodes. So that is something that I'm looking into. Feature? Yes, that would be great. Awesome.

42:27Scott Feinberg:Well, and so just leading up to Rosemead, which I know is something we're going to want to get into in depth here, but these last few years, I feel like you must be getting approached by people, teens or younger, who are seeing you, not having known any of the great projects that we've talked about up till now, but perhaps from Set It Up, which was one of the big things on Netflix in recent years, or Shazam, Fury of the Gods, where your first foray into a superhero franchise, or just kind of such a variety of stuff in recent years, do you get a kick out of the fact that what is the breakdown now of people who, if they see you on the street or whatever, what are you hearing about most of all from your fans these days?

43:13It's so interesting because I think a lot of people, European audiences, really know Ally McBeal really well and Elementary. So I think that the television somehow is cross-cultural and there are of course people that are more sort of Comic-Con oriented that are really into Kill Bill and obviously any Tarantino movie. I mean, who wouldn't be, right? He's really iconic. and there are a lot of people that love Set It Up and then more recently in the same vein as the Kill Bill group is Presence which is Soderbergh so there are so many different varieties of fans or people who have particular tastes and it's so nice to be able to speak to all of those different genres and to feel like there's no I don't have to choose anything I just feel like I'm curious and I'm interested in.

44:09So that's where something takes me. And I don't know that I have to always make a decision about that.

44:15Scott Feinberg:And it is funny, though. I think you've said nobody. Normally, you know, if it's George Clooney, it's like, hey, George. If it's Brad Pitt, hey, Brad. But for some reason, I think you've said it's never, hey, Lucy. It's always Lucy Liu, right? Yeah, that's right. It's my full name, but it's my only name, apparently. Okay, so this brings us to something that is coming to the public now, but has been on your radar for something like six years, I think you've said. And that is Rosemead, which is the name of a community in Southern California where I think it's now 60 % or something people of Asian descent.

44:53Scott Feinberg:And just to tee it up without spoiling anything, because I know people will be diving into it later this evening. You, this is a, you're playing Irene, a widow who is facing some kind of, you know, a dire health situation herself while running a business and trying to raise a son who's got his own, you know, challenges that she's worrying about, especially given her own situation. I wonder, this is based on a real-life incident that was reported on in Los Angeles. When did it first cross your radar, and what made you want to be involved, not only as an actress, but as a producer? Rosemead was based on an article in the LA Times by Frank Shung, as you said, and this movie is vital because it is truly a love story between a mother and her son, and it also brings in a lot of the idea of not just culturally but shame and how that can indicate the decisions that we make and how they can become tragedies when they don't need to be.

46:05And it's important to be a part of it as a producer because I believe in it so much and it's not just for the AA and HPI community, it's for all of us because it's a universal story and I think oftentimes that fear is a very strong driving factor and in this case I want to show that it doesn't have to be and you know to produce something is I've learned so much from this movie and I know that you've seen it and I'm just curious how you received it you know on your side because you are you know such an expert at so much not just in film and television, but just how you see things in a wider scope.

46:52Scott Feinberg:Well, thanks. I will just say it's so powerful and disturbing, as you say, the things that kind of, I think all of us probably aren't comfortable talking about with others. I know you've said within the Asian community, I think it's saving face is the phrase of what this woman, Irene, may be trying to do instead of feeling that she can have more open conversations about this. And the other thing I thought about watching it really was how in the last few years, in very different ways, there have been movies looking at the challenges of an immigrant parent and a first-generation American child within the Asian community with Everything Everywhere All at Once, with DeeDee, and now with this that are so powerful.

47:47Scott Feinberg:And I guess I wondered, watching it and knowing a bit about your story, that this was obviously in many ways very totally different from your story, but there are some similarities, I think, in the sense that, you know, you've said it's not necessarily easy for you to understand everything, the way that your parents handled things in the same way that maybe vice versa. It's just this kind of a disconnect. So I wondered if that was on your mind at all when you were doing this as well, playing now the mother who has an American-born child. Right. I think I could see both sides of it because I've been where the son was, where we're speaking Chinglish, and I've also been on the other side where I have a son.

48:33And so there's both. And I think the vital part of that is to tell stories about our own communities so that it's not just about these commercial movies, about martial arts or about crazy rich Asians. I mean, those are movies that we love and that we flock to see, but there's other stories and narratives that we want to tell and want to have out there and accessible so that people don't feel isolated and alone. And I think in this particular case, being sequestered and having no outreach was really the crux of her decision-making. And that was the tragedy of that. And this movie will shine a light, hopefully, that that doesn't have to be the case.

49:17And that she was not a monster, but someone who did something out of a deep love for her son.

49:26Scott Feinberg:Why, putting on your producer cap for a second, why do you think it took six years? What were you running up against? What were people's hesitation about supporting this? I think there's a great deal of fear that it's a story that is dark and they don't know that it will be entertaining or fun. And I think there's the idea that it's not that important. And I think that there's so much that can be looked at from different angles and I'm not the one to explore that necessarily. but for me there is sort of such a limited roster and I think that people don't necessarily want to expand oftentimes and for me, you know, for people to finance something they really want to get their money back.

50:16So, you know, it's a risk. I'm a risk taker though and I think that for me nothing is more attractive than a risk. So this was something that, you know, we endeavored to bring to life and the miracle is that we were able to shoot it and create it and now we get to share it and that is, to me, the greatest gift now.

50:39Scott Feinberg:And in terms of risks, I mean, you took gambles, I suppose, calculated gambles that really paid off. The director had never made a feature before, Eric Lin. The person who plays your, the actor who plays your son, Laurence Sean, had never appeared in a feature before, I guess. and then you make it, I guess. I don't know if you can know in the moment. Yeah, I guess I wonder, did you have to see how others reacted as initially happened at Tribeca, and now it's going to, I think it was then Bentonville? Bentonville, we won, yeah, the best narrative, which was so exciting. Yes, and now tonight the people we'll see here, Were you able to kind of offer or form your own kind of objective opinion before others reacted?

51:30Scott Feinberg:Or how important was it to see how it went over with others? I mean, I think that it's got to be a personal thing. When somebody watches something, it's just like going to see a piece of art. And everyone has a different reaction. It might remind them of somebody they knew. It might repel them. It might scare them. It might trigger them. And so there is, you know, that is something that is always going to be subjective. And that is the right of the audience member, right? That it's there and it's offered is something that is the important part. And I think we've had so many different other options on the table, but not that.

52:10And why not that? Because it's a personal story. And I think it's, you know, I talk about my parents. I see my relatives, I see their relatives. And yes, Eric is a first-time director. He did an incredible job. He's a cinematographer. And we looked at so many different audition tapes for Lawrence, Lawrence's role of Joe, and he just really knew the right tone. And for me, I'm so glad that people saw my potential when they hired me for whatever it was, whether it was the under five or the over five. and sometimes you just know. You don't need to have a huge resume to know that somebody has talent.

52:52Right.

52:53Scott Feinberg:Last question, if I may. I know that you're, in addition to getting the word out about this project, I believe you're filming or have already filmed Devil Wears Prada 2. Is that true? I just finished something the day before I left here. Okay. I finished and then I landed the next day in Picarno. Okay, so there's that going on. But also, I guess I just wonder when you look at the landscape at the moment, and things are, I know, I don't want to sound naive, and it's not even really my place to fully evaluate progress in this way. but I mean, in recent years, we've had Crazy Rich Asians was a huge hit.

53:36Scott Feinberg:We've had Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won the Best Picture Oscar. We've had things that, to me, would seem to suggest that there's been a bit of progress over the course of your career, and I have no doubt that that is in significant part thanks to the contributions of yours that we've been talking about. And I guess I just wonder, though, as you kind of step back and as, you know, we've covered a lot of years and territory in this conversation. Do you feel that things are moving and have moved and are moving in the right direction in our industry or or just what's your sort of state of the union here in August 2025?

54:16I think there's still a lot of work to be done. And I think it's not just about and I say that about this story for Rosemead. but I also say that it can't just be checking off boxes. It has to be a real feeling of wanting to make the project, not to quantify the percentage. And we're losing so much ground by, I guess, the field of diversity is being limited because it's the law. And I think that it doesn't represent us. It doesn't represent you. It doesn't represent everyone. and it doesn't mean that it has to be this amount of people it should just be a desire for it if you don't have a desire for it then why would it be it's not I don't think I mean I'm not doing this I'm not in this job this this industry this do this I'm not in this career this career is not mine because for any other reason than I love it.

55:18And I think the desire for it keeps me curious and vital and happy and joyous, right? And there's so many challenges within that. But I don't think that it's, if I was just doing it because I wanted to get my insurance, it's just not the same feeling. It's just like eating for ballast. You're not really enjoying it. And I think there has to be the seed of that has to be the desire and the want and the you know more than the reasoning you know it has to be something deeper than just checking off boxes well thank you for doing this

55:58Scott Feinberg:congratulations on the honor here at the festival and everyone a reminder can see rosemead at least everyone here in lucarno tonight at nine um but really appreciate doing this thanks i'm thrilled to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you.

56:40Scott Feinberg:On those platforms, we announce upcoming guests and provide details about special live recordings of the podcast that you can attend. Until next time, thanks again for tuning in.

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