Normal People’s touching storyline made the tough guy from Ballymena break down in tears

LIAM NEESON has told how U2 pal Bono convinced him to star in his first flick made in Northern Ireland in 10 years – after avoiding movies about the IRA and the Troubles.

The Taken hunk, 66, says the Irish rocker sent him the script for new drama, Normal People, about a couple facing up to cancer.

Taken actor Liam NeesonCredit: The Mega Agency
And the touching storyline made the tough guy from Ballymena break down in tears.

He said: “I knew it was special. The subject matter is heavy but it’s a beautiful love story. It’s invested with Irish humour and it made me cry a little.”

Normal People is a love story about a married couple named Tom and Joan – played by Lesley Manville – whose lives are turned upside down when she is diagnosed with breast cancer.

And Neeson said he’s proud to be involved in a movie that portrays a modern Belfast.

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Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville in Normal People
He said: “I knew I had to do it. I’ve been offered a hundred things over the years to do with the IRA and the Troubles and I wanted to avoid it.

“Now that there is a real peace there and a new generation in Ireland it feels like there is a youthful energy about Belfast. It’s great.”

The film was written by Northern Irish screenwriter Owen McCafferty and Neeson revealed it was nice to be able to speak with his own accent for a change.

Speaking to Hollywood website, Deadline, he said: “I’m not speaking in funny accents. I’m being myself and speaking in Owen’s words. Our characters speak in their own accents. It was freeing not having to think about pronunciation.”

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Rebecca Miller pictured with Liam NeesonCredit: Splash News
Neeson quipped about begging producers to include a scene where he beats up a doctor because his action movie fans would expect it from him after starring in flicks such as Taken.

He said: “I joked on set, ‘Please guys, let’s just put one scene in where I beat up a doctor?’ I’m sure there will be some in the audience expecting me to pull out a gun at some stage.”

The Northern Irish actor signed up to the role because many of his close family members have been affected by cancer.

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Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills in Taken 2Credit: Film Company
He added: “I’ve had four relatives who have died of cancer, three of them of breast cancer over the last few years. I’m very aware of it. People still whisper about cancer.