LOS ANGELES – When Lucy Liu was approached by director Steven Soderbergh about doing his new movie, she assumed he was offering her a small role.

But the acclaimed American film-maker cast the Chinese-American actress as a main character in Presence, a supernatural thriller and psychological drama opening in Singapore cinemas on March 20.

Liu plays a woman named Rebekah who, with husband Chris (Chris Sullivan), daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) and son Tyler (Eddy Maday), has just moved into a new home.

But the family discovers it is haunted by a ghostly presence whose intentions are unclear – and the movie is filmed, disconcertingly, from this entity’s point of view.

For Liu, 56, this is part of a mini career resurgence after several years of low-profile roles.

She first rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, stealing scenes in the television comedy Ally McBeal (1998 to 2002) before starring in the Charlie’s Angels (2000 and 2003) and Kill Bill action films (2003 and 2004).

Her resume then seemed to downshift, although the Sherlock Holmes-inspired crime drama Elementary (2012 to 2019), in which she played a modern-day Dr Watson, won loyal fans.

But Liu returned to big-budget cinema in 2023, playing a goddess in the superhero film Shazam! Fury Of The Gods and, in 2024, appearing in the action-comedy Red One opposite Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans.

Speaking to reporters over Zoom in January, she says she was floored when Soderbergh chose her for Presence.

“I have no idea why he cast me,” says the star, who has done voice work for animation and video games, playing Master Viper in the Kung Fu Panda movies (2008 to 2016).

“Maybe because they were shooting on the East Coast and I was on the East Coast?” she suggests modestly.

“Or maybe because he loves and respects you as an artiste,” chimes in co-star Sullivan, the 44-year-old American actor Emmy-nominated for the family drama This Is Us (2016 to 2022).

Soderbergh – who helmed the stylish Ocean’s heist trilogy (2001 to 2007) and won the Best Director Oscar for the 2000 drama Traffic – initially did not tell Liu which part he wanted her for.

“So, when I read the script, I just assumed he wanted me for the kooky spiritual person who can connect to the other side,” she recalls.

“And what’s funny is he didn’t say it was horror,” adds Liu, who directed several episodes of Elementary as well as an episode of the action-comedy series American Born Chinese (2023).

“I didn’t know it was horror until it was done and they presented it as that.

“And I still didn’t see it as a horror movie. To me, it was about an entity overseeing what was happening with this family,” says Liu, also a multimedia artist who exhibited her work at the National Museum of Singapore in 2019.

Sullivan agrees that Presence is not the typical horror flick.

“And everything Steven Soderbergh does is a surprise because he keeps trying to challenge himself in a new way,” says the performer, who played fan favourite Taserface in the superhero movie Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Liu next appears in the film Rosemead – a drama due out later in 2025 – playing an immigrant mother with a terminal illness. But the actress insists it is just a fluke that audiences are seeing more of her lately.

“I don’t have any control over when things are released. We shot (Presence) 1½ years ago. We do our work, and then it all falls into place however it does,” says Liu, who is single and has a nine-year-old son.

“Yes, I was just out doing a lot of press not too long ago for Red One. But this is a very different project and I’m really proud of it.”

• Presence opens in Singapore cinemas on March 20.

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