Liam Neeson Is Finally Done With Action Movies
Liam Neeson is one of the most famous examples of an actor who managed to completely reinvent his career. Once upon a time, he was the guy cast to be the charming romantic lead, and he occasionally did some wild card genre films such as Darkman and The Phantom Menace. The Taken movies transformed Liam Neeson into a genuine action icon, but he recently announced he will stop taking such action-heavy roles sometime next year.
When Is Liam Neeson Retiring From Action Movies?
Recently, Liam Neeson sat down for an interview with People, and they discussed how the actor will be utilizing his special set of action skills to star in the upcoming film Absolution. The director (Hans Petter Moland) praised Neeson’s ability to handle the action scenes, but the actor himself was quite blunt, saying, “I’m 72 — it has to stop at some stage.” While he’s not completely certain when he will be taking these roles, he has put a time frame on when he is most likely to bow out: “maybe the end of next year.”
Hearing Liam Neeson talk about himself so humbly, it’s clear why he is so beloved among action lovers. The actor pointed out,“You can’t fool audiences,” and he knows that audiences are there to see him fight, not some stunt double. “ I don’t want Mark to be fighting my fight scenes for me,” he said.
As Star Trek fans, it’s hard to hear Liam Neeson talk about the need to bow out of action roles without thinking of Patrick Stewart’s return to his most famous character in the Picard spinoff. Stewart was 79 when the show began, and like so many NuTrek shows, it had way too much action and violence.
It was difficult to see how slow Stewart looked in some of these action scenes, especially when most of us remember him as a much younger man bringing great physicality to the role in movies like Star Trek: First Contact.
The Taken Franchise Makes Liam Neeson A Certified Action Star
It seems like Liam Neeson doesn’t want fans to view him that way, and he knows that he will always be held to the standard of the action roles that redefined his latter-day career. After the success of Taken, the actor starred in two sequels and took on a bevy of action-movie roles in movies like The Grey and The Commuter. Next month, his latest action flick, Absolution, will hit theaters on November 1.
In fact, Liam Neeson’s fame as an action star is a large part of why he is starring in the upcoming The Naked Gun reboot. Original franchise star Leslie Nielsen was once known for his more serious roles before he branched out into comedy. Neeson seems to be making the same pivot, and knowing all about his performances in these earlier action movies will likely help audiences appreciate his slapstick transformation in the upcoming police procedural parody.
“I’m 72 — it has to stop at some stage.”
Liam Neeson on taking action roles
Once upon a time, we thought Liam Neeson’s career reinvention sounded absurd…like, how were we supposed to take a guy whose career had spanned both Schindler’s List and Star Wars seriously as a gung-ho action hero? But he blew us all away with Taken, proving he knew exactly when and how to reinvent his career. Now, it seems like he knows the perfect time to step back from these action roles, which is one set of special skills far too many aging stars (like Roger Moore playing James Bond at 57, y’all) never master.
Source: People
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