In a recent interview, venerated Irish actor, Liam Neeson, addressed the surprising fact that he's an action star at around the time many people think about retiring.
After initially making his name in intense historical dramas (“Schindler’s List,” “Michael Collins,” “Gangs of New York”) or sci-fi epics (“Darkman,” Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace”), Neeson took the part of former CIA agent Bryan Mills in the first “Taken” film in 2008, which looked to be a fly-by-night action flick.
Instead, as Today reported, it became a huge hit that grossed over 200 million dollars, and led to two sequels. And since then, Neeson has carved out a consistently successful space in other fast-paced shoot-em-ups like “Cold Pursuit” and “The Commuter.”
The success of “Taken” shocked Neeson too. “I honestly thought it would go straight to video,” he said on “Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist." “It was a simple little story.”
That simple little story has led to Neeson, 69, getting action scripts and gigs to this day, which still amazes the actor.
“I turn 70 this year, so I’m still getting away with it," he joked.
That said, Neeson has had an affinity for action films and physicality in general since his youth. “I was an amateur boxer from the age of nine till I was 17,” Neeson explained. “I just love that physicality.”
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That topic came up when Neeson bumped into “Taken” writer/producer Luc Besson at a film festival in Shanghai. He didn't think he stood "a chance," but told the filmmaker about his boxing expertise and mentioned that he had learned sword fighting for other movies -- all as a pretext to hoping to land the lead in “Taken.”
Not only have the “Taken” films been hits, but one particular scene from the first “Taken” has become a bonafide classic Hollywood quotable, dropped in memes and comedy routines. Of course we’re talking about that intimidating phone call Neeson drops to his daughter’s kidnappers.
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want,” agent Mills growls whisperingly into the phone. “If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I’ve acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.”
As one might imagine, Neeson hears that speech more than anyone. “If I had $0.05 for every time I left (that) message for my son’s friends, I’d be quite wealthy,” Neeson joked to Geist.
Neeson admitted, “It was funny, and I remember when we shot the scene, too, I thought, ‘This is hokey. Can we cut some of these skills out of the speech?’”
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All the running, jumping, and gunning might have finally caught up to Neeson. Despite the pride and laughs he shared about his action career to Geist, Neeson claimed a year ago that he was retiring from action flicks.
“There’re a couple more I’m going to do this year” he told Entertainment Tonight, "... and then I think that will probably be it.”
The latest pipeline auctioneer is “Blacklight,” opening February 11, where he plays an undercover agent for an unofficial government agency. He told Geist it appealed to him because beyond the exciting action there is a more political edge to it.
And he’ll be in two more thrillers later this year, “Memory” and “Retribution.”
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