Liam Neeson is mulling retirement (soon) from action films (again): ‘It has to stop’
With a decade-plus with action films as his calling card, Liam Neeson says he may be aging out of the genre — but he has said that before.
After breaking into the film industry nearly half a century ago, the Northern Ireland-born actor found his stride with “Taken,” a 2009 revenge drama about a former government agent who must rescue his kidnapped daughter. Since then, he has kept largely to action cinema, where he sensed his performances most resonated with viewers.
“It just seemed to have touched something in the psychic nerve of moviegoing audiences,” Neeson told People in an interview published Wednesday.
However, at 72, the “Schindler’s List” breakout anticipates his “particular set of skills” may soon be limited.
The political setting of 1970s Ireland may be new, but the Neeson formula is by now familiar — and satisfyingly so — as the quiet man becomes an action hero.
“It has to stop at some stage,” Neeson said, adding that while he still performs his own fight scenes, his longtime collaborator Mark Vanselow subs in for the more intricate stunt work. “You can’t fool audiences. I don’t want Mark to be fighting my fight scenes for me.”
Neeson added that he sees himself quitting action by “maybe the end of next year. I think that’s it.”
But that’s a familiar monologue for the Oscar winner, who told Entertainment Tonight in 2021 that he would do a “couple [action films] in the pipeline and, then I think that will probably be it.”
He similarly teased his exit from the genre in 2015 and again in 2017, when he said at the 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival, “I think the action movies will draw to a close — they have to.” (Granted, he later clarified he meant his TIFF comment as a joke.)
Two Jude Law movies, a career-best performance by Pamela Anderson, the return of Mike Leigh and more were among our favorite first-time watches at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In any case, Pamela Anderson, the actor’s co-star in “The Naked Gun,” seems to think a late-career stint in comedy awaits Neeson, People reported. Neeson plays clueless police detective Frank Drebin Jr. in the fourth and final installment in the crime-spoof comedy franchise — slated for an August 2025 release — with Anderson as his love interest.
“It was hard to keep a straight face in scenes together,” the “Love, Pamela” memoirist said.
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