The &34;Rush Hour&34; star taught her to juggle instead. Why Jackie Chan wouldn't teach Lucy Liu any stunts for Shanghai Noon The &34;Rush Hour&34; star taught her to juggle instead. By Daysia Tolentino :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/DaysiaTolentinoauthorphotob1c9bf2343cf4cf7b77759eeb9f69e8d.jpg) Daysia Tolentino Daysia Tolentino is a writer at . She has written for since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle. EW's editorial guidelines January 25, 2026 10:00 p.m. ET Leave a Comment :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/lucyliushanghainoon0120263fa473a433e148c984b265e9c493d7cd.

The "Rush Hour" star taught her to juggle instead.

Why Jackie Chan wouldn't teach Lucy Liu any stunts for Shanghai Noon

The "Rush Hour" star taught her to juggle instead.

By Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino is a writer at *. *She has written for * *since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle.

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January 25, 2026 10:00 p.m. ET

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Lucy Liu as Princess Pei Pei in 'Shanghai Noon'. Credit:

Touchstone/Courtesy Everett

Lucy Liu needed to be rescued in *Shanghai Noon*. But behind the scenes, she was itching to learn some of the hero's moves herself.

Seizing the opportunity to learn from an action superstar, Liu had asked her *Shanghai Noon *castmate Jackie Chan to teach her stunts. The *Rush Hour* actor, who had an entire stunt crew helping him, declined.

"He's like, 'No, no, no, you don't get to do anything. I don't want you to get hurt,'" Liu said in a video reviewing her "Life in Looks" for *Vogue.*

Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu, and Jackie Chan during the 'Shanghai Noon' premiere.

SGranitz/WireImage

Instead, Chan's team taught Liu how to juggle, which baffled her. She admitted she "wasn't coordinated enough" to do it successfully, which may have been a sign of her readiness to take on more intense stunt work.

"Maybe that was their test to see if I could actually handle knives and other things," Liu said.

Still, the *Rosemead* actress is no shrinking violet when it comes to stunts. Following the East-meets-West western comedy, she went on to wield some serious weapons in action franchises like *Charlie's Angels *and *Kill Bill.*

Lucy Liu reveals her 'Kill Bill' costumes were secret tribute to 'Pulp Fiction' — and it was all her idea

Lucy Liu says 'strange lull' in career was due to Hollywood stereotyping: 'It was a sign of disrespect to me'

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Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan in 'Shanghai Noon'.

Touchstone/Courtesy Everett

In fact, her role as Princess Pei Pei in *Shanghai Noon* is what led her to play assassin O-Ren Ishii in the *Kill Bill *films. Liu said Quentin Tarantino wrote the part for her after watching her performance in the 2000 western.

"He said, 'Your role as Princess Pei Pei, like, it really moved me and it really connected me with you,'" Liu said.

The actress took Tarantino's offer and even had a part in shaping her *Kill Bill *character's look. She previously shared how she took inspiration from the simplicity of Vincent Vega's (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield's (Samuel L. Jackson) crisp white shirts and black ties.

"For the first scene that you see O-Ren in, she's in a black kimono with a white underneath the black kimono. And so that was representing, basically, *Pulp Fiction*," Liu said in the same *Vogue* video.

Check out the full *Vogue* video with Lucy Liu below.**

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Source: "EW Movies"

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Source: Movies

Published: January 26, 2026 at 02:38AM on Source: PRIME TIME

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