During a recent interview with The Art Of Dialogue, Bokeem Woodbine recalled working alongside 2Pac and Lucy Liu on their 1997 film, Gridlock’d. According to him, the late rapper had his sights set on the actress at the time. He said that she’d practice with “escrima sticks,” which 2Pac ran into her doing once.
“I just remember one day on set, ‘Pac coming to the knock on my trailer,” he began. “And he was like, ‘Yo, man, what are you doing?’ I was like, ‘I’m just chilling.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, man. I just came back from Lucy’s room and I’m trying to spit game.'”
Woodbine claimed that Liu didn’t pick up on the fact that 2Pac was interested, and was simply trying to show him the escrima sticks. “He was like, ‘Okay, well, maybe if I feign some interest and act like I’m interested in what she’s trying to talk to me about, it’ll get me closer to sealing the deal,'” he recalled.
2Pac & Lucy Liu
Sadly, it doesn’t look like this worked out for 2Pac, though he. “So, I’m just cracking up,” Woodbine explained. “And I said, ‘How’d it work? Did it work?’ He’s like, ‘No, it didn’t work.’ I said, ‘Ah, don’t worry about it, man. You know, you can’t win them all.'”
As for why Liu didn’t pick up of 2Pac’s flirtation, Woodbine said it’s possible she just wasn’t “vibing” with him. “Or maybe it just went over her head, like, she didn’t know what he [was talking about],” he also suggested. “But he was telling me like, ‘Yeah, you know, I’m trying to trying to get to know her and the only thing she wants to talk about is waving these sticks around.'”
Back in 2023, Liu reflected on her own time working alongside 2Pac during an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s so strange to think that he’s gone now,” she said, also describing him as “nice” and saying they had a “great time together.”