Lucy Liu Thinks It’s Important to Make a Mess Sometimes

Lucy Liu’s 9-year-old son, Rockwell, hasn’t seen his mother draw blood in “Charlie’s Angels” or “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and certainly not in “Kill Bill, Vol. 1.”

But the only splash of crimson in her latest film, “Red One,” is the suit of Santa Claus, who has been kidnapped from the North Pole. Liu is one of the Christmas movie’s stars, alongside Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, and plays the head of security for the world’s mythological creatures.

“This is the only live-action movie that my son has been able to watch, and he wanted to see it again right afterward,” Liu said on a video call. “I think he forgot that I was actually in it at one point.”

When she isn’t shooting or producing (she will next appear in “Presence,” a Steven Soderbergh thriller slated for release in January), Liu can most often be found in her art studio. She tends to lose track of time there — “the whole point of art,” she said. “You just get lost in that world.”

Liu, who lives in Manhattan, elaborated on why her library card, spur-of-the-moment theatergoing and riding her bicycle are essential to her well-being. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Transcendental Meditation

I put together an art book years ago, and I asked Deepak Chopra if he would write a forward. He did, but he also asked me to come into his office. He wanted to teach me about meditation. And so he gave me a mantra, and it was an important moment for me because I didn’t know that it would make such a big difference.