They're beautiful, they're brilliant, and they work for Charlie! In Charlie's Angels, a sexy, high-octane update of the original '70's action TV series, Natalie (Cameron Diaz), Dylan (Drew Barrymore) and Alex (Lucy Liu), alongside faithful lieutenant Bosley (a cranky Bill Murray), must foil an elaborate murder-revenge plot that could not only destroy individual privacy worldwide, but spell the end of Charlie and his Angels.

Directed by McG Produced by Drew Barrymore Leonard Goldberg Nancy Juvonen Written by Ryan Rowe Ed Solomon John August Starring Cameron Diaz Drew Barrymore Lucy Liu Bill Murray Sam Rockwell Crispin Glover Tom Green Kelly Lynch Tim Curry Music Ed Shearmur Distributed by Columbia Pictures Release date November 3, 2000 Running Time 98 minutes Followed by Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Charlie's Angels marks the directorial debut of music video director McG. Almost 20 years after the original television series went off the air, original producer Leonard Goldberg felt that the time was ripe for an update. His concept picked up where the show left off: the Townsend Detective Agency had flourished with Charlie at the helm and thrived with the exit and entrance of various Angels. So now, Goldberg says, "The movie version includes the most recent recruits-women who are representative of Angels in the year 2000." Meanwhile, Drew Barrymore and her production company, Flower Films, had been following the progress of the Angels project and contacted the studio. Barrymore said that she had a presentation she wanted to make-her version of a contemporary Angels feature. Barrymore knew that the hit television series had a devoted following and recognized the challenge of bringing Charlie's Angels to the big screen. "There is something so iconic about Charlie's Angels," says Barrymore, speaking about the television show. "I have never seen such great loyalty and devotion to something from fans. People really feel like the show belongs to them. You have this great name-'Charlie's Angels,' but what kind of film do you make? We wanted to try and create something different-set a new tone-create a new genre."  For the role of one of her fellow Angels, Barrymore called upon her good friend Cameron Diaz. With Golden Globe nominations for her performances in "There's Something About Mary" and "Being John Malkovich", the actress has been much in demand. Not unlike the character of Natalie, Barrymore says, "Cameron is effervescent and optimistic and has a great strength and stability to her. She is one of the most real people I have met in my life."

"Cameron is a wonderful actress because she is very truthful," says producer Goldberg. "When there is a close-up on her face, you can look into her eyes and see into her soul. That's what makes a movie star."

"I wanted to do it," says Diaz, "because Drew Barrymore is the best saleswoman in the entire world. If you want somebody to buy your product, get Drew to taste it, wear it, use it . . . If she likes it, you're sold."

Recalls Diaz of her first conversation with Barrymore. "I was in my car and got a message that Drew wanted to talk to me. I called her back, and we talked for almost two hours until the battery on my phone ran out. She said, 'It's going to be a chick action movie. We get to be beautiful and tough, and we get to wear bad-ass clothes. We won't have guns, and we get to do kung-fu. In this movie, it's the girls that are going to kick ass.'" From that point forward, Diaz says, the momentum was unstoppable. It quickly became apparent that director McG's motto for this production was "bigger and faster." "We tried to take everything and amplify it-bring it to a heightened place of reality," says the director. "I wanted a 90-minute ride of stimulus on every level conceivable."

From the start, however, Charlie's Angels would differ from most action movies in one major respect-it would have little gun-to-gun action. With no guns to rely on and some physically daunting adversaries, the three Angels had to have a method of defense that was independent of physical strength and size. Martial arts seemed like a plausible solution for the Angels and, inspired by the martial arts displayed in "The Matrix", the filmmakers sought out and hired several members of that film's team to prepare the Angels. While Barrymore and Diaz' continued to grow as friends, characters and martial artists, there was an empty space noticeable to everyone involved. There was no third Angel. While several actresses expressed their desire to play the role, the filmmakers continued their search for an actress who would complement, and be complemented by, the talents of Barrymore and Diaz, yet also be characteristically unique. They found these distinctive talents in Lucy Liu.

The filmmakers called Liu and asked her to join the Angels. Liu's response-"I'd love to"-was calm and cool, but later she admitted she was in a complete flutter. Liu says that she was attracted to the film because it was not a remake, and therefore she could make the part of Alex her own. Being an Angel also represented the opportunity to be a part of something modern yet with a historical background. "You get to go undercover. You get to do things that James Bond gets to do. You get to work with Cameron and Drew-what a powerful combination. It's the most fun anyone could have."
With the Angel trio complete, the three actresses went head-on into training. Though Liu was a couple of weeks behind, with the support of Diaz, Barrymore, Yuen and the martial arts team, it wasn't long before everyone was in sync.

"It was a common thing for all of us to be suspended from wires half the day," explains Diaz of the supplementary apparatus used by the trainers. "The great thing about movies," exclaims Diaz, "is that you get the opportunity to do things that you never would have been able to do in any other circumstance. And you get to learn these things from the best people."

"Understanding your body and how far you can push yourself was an incredible journey," explains Liu. "If your body isn't used to it, you find yourself in a situation where you are in a lot of pain. When we were on a set shooting scenes with a lot of action, and it was painful," she adds lightheartedly, "we'd just turn to someone on the crew and say, 'It's really hard being an action hero.'"

Charlie's Angels derives its thrills from the acrobatic combinations of stretches, splits, high jumps and long kicks its stars perform. "I think the discipline of it was really important," concludes Barrymore. "I love being a woman, and I love femininity. But I also love the tough, survivalist aspect of what boys get to do. I just felt so tough and strong. It was thrilling."

Then there's Bosley, "I thought it would be fun to play an American icon," says Bill Murray of his character. "Not exactly Roosevelt or Lincoln, but Bosley." Tongue firmly planted in cheek, Murray says he was intrigued by "the idea that I could play someone as important in American culture as Bosley-because I didn't get the call to do Superman or Jefferson in Paris-and go deeper, deeper, deeper and find out what makes him tick."

"He is a guy with a little bit of wisdom to impart to the Angels," the actor/comedian explains. "He's been at the agency for a while. Like an assistant principal that sticks around after the principal leaves. Bosley knows where the mop is. He has the keys to everything. He brings such a great quality to the part," Goldberg says of Murray. "He brings individuality to it and interprets it as only Bill Murray can." With a wink and a nod to the Angels' obvious allure, Murray concluded that the most practical approach to fleshing out Bosley's character was to play him as someone who experienced a private, unrequited love for the Angels while faithfully serving them and keeping them happy, healthy and gorgeous. In other words, Murray says, keeping them "totally relaxed. No creases or wrinkle lines in these beauties."  Even Murray had to admire the blood sweat and tears his co-stars invested their roles. "They worked very hard on the kung fu," he says, "and they had fun doing it.

Principal photography on Charlie's Angels began in January 2000. The film was shot on location in and around Southern California. Keen-eyed film buffs and Steven Spielberg fans may recognize one setting used in the movie-the house where Barrymore 'drops in' on two video game-playing kids is the very same house occupied by then child-actor Barrymore and others in Spielberg's blockbuster, E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

"One of the things that I really appreciate about our film is that the women are human and accessible," echoes Barrymore. "They have desires and needs, humor and darkness, and they are entirely capable." Liu concludes, "It's very simple. To be an Angel, you just have to be yourself. The great thing about our characters is their different personalities. It kind of allows for anyone to be an Angel." Crew members also drew inspiration from this concept of the Angels as a trio of free-spirited, modern women.

With the new film version, the concept of Charlie's Angels is still breaking ground more than 20 years since the television show first aired. "The action movie is the last bastion of the male star," says Leonard Goldberg. "But I think the Angels of 2000 may just change that." Says McG, "the message of this film is, 'don't think because I'm beautiful I can't go out and kick some ass and make it happen in a 'man's world.' Because it's no longer a 'man's world,' it's everybody's world."

"My biggest hope for this film is that people feel like they could be an Angel," says Drew Barrymore. "All it takes is belief in yourself and the willingness to go the distance in whatever it is that you want to do."