Lucy Liu, who’s starred in titles from box-office action movies to crime dramas to musicals, now takes on a horror lead role in the new film “Presence.”
The ever-expansive actor, producer, director and artist plays the role of Rebekah, the family matriarch. Liu, 56, said the film, from director Steven Soderbergh and in theaters Friday, uses horror in an unexpected way to tell the story of unspoken family dynamics.
The movie features a young family who bought a 100-year-old suburban house from a real estate agent played by Julia Fox. There, family issues begin to unfold in a claustrophobic setting, depicted from the point of view of a mysterious spirit presence. The movie uses horror to touch on lesser-discussed family issues like child favoritism or communication breakdowns within marriages.
“The backdrop is a reality of a family dynamic and how this entity interacts or sees this family,” Liu told NBC News. “When people are in their own worlds, they don’t know how bad it sounds and how dysfunctional it can be until you see it from another perspective.”
The film doesn’t tie up loose ends and leaves audiences hanging, which she said horror is uniquely poised to do.
“Horror is a very specific genre that doesn’t necessarily need to be a tangible person or entity like Jason [from ‘Friday the 13th’], like things people imagined in the past,” Liu said. “This movie has a lot of suspense and when I watched it, it seemed like a thriller because things are unfolding and unraveling for the audience as they are watching it. It becomes a mystery that keeps people on the edge of their seats.”
The first-person point of view of the ghostly presence was captured by Soderbergh as he crept around the set in his martial arts slippers, cloth shoes, following the actors with a handheld camera.
As a director herself on TV episodes of “Elementary,” “Luke Cage” and “American Born Chinese,” Liu said she was inspired by her experience working with Soderbergh as he brought his ideas to life in new and innovative ways.
“Steven is willing to try different genres and ways of filming,” she said. “It takes courage because when you are somebody who is well-established and has a huge following of people, you don’t want to disappoint them, but in order to grow as an artist, you have to take big chances, whether it works or not.”
After three decades in the movie industry, Liu continues to break new ground and is still pointed to as a prominent figure for Asian American representation in Hollywood.
Born and raised in Queens, New York, Liu said she always knew she wanted to be an actor, but she didn’t see herself represented. She took the leap anyway.
Starting her acting career in the early ‘90s, Liu had a number of smaller roles on TV shows and movies before landing her breakthrough role in the comedy-drama “Ally McBeal.” In the following years, Liu hit superstardom with big roles in “Charlie’s Angels” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.”
The actor became the second Asian American woman to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after Anna May Wong in the 1960s, and the first Asian American woman to host “Saturday Night Live,” in 2000.
Liu said her continued success as an actor through the decades can be credited to her willingness to take risks and reinvent herself.
“Going into the acting business is a giant risk, that’s what it is,” Liu said. “It doesn’t stop; it’s not like you take one risk and you make it to the other side of the bridge.”
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