The Irish actor also heaped praise of Derry Girls mastermind Lisa McGee

Today FM presenter Dave Moore (left) and actor Liam Neeson (right) (Image: Today FM)

Liam Neeson said the Oscar-winning film An Irish Goodbye touched him on ‘so many levels’.

The win for the Irish-made film on Sunday saw the star, Belfast actor James Martin, become the first actor with Down’s Syndrome to win at the Academy Awards.

Neeson, from Ballymena in Co Antrim, said the film ‘absolutely deserved’ the nod and told of his joy for the star.

“For ‘The Irish Goodbye’, not least because we have an extraordinary Down Syndrome boy in my own family who’s 31 years of age and for a film to star (an actor with Down Syndrome) it touched me on so many levels.

“It was funny, it was a perfect length and it absolutely deserved [the Oscar].”

(L-R) Ross White, James Martin, Tom Berkeley, Seamus O’Hara, winners of Best Short Film (Live Action) award for ’An Irish Goodbye’ at the Oscars (Image: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
It comes as the cast and crew of the film were spotted arriving back home to Ireland on Thursday after celebrating the win in Hollywood this week.

Speaking on the Dermot and Dave show on Ireland’s Today FM, the Hollywood star also heaped praise on more local talent, as he told of his admiration for Derry Girls creator and writer Lisa McGee.

The Taken star, who appeared as a special guest star in the final series last year, said: “How great is that series? Lisa McGee, I just can’t praise her enough.

“To set a series and sell that idea of ‘I see these young girls growing up in Derry in the 80s during the troubles’ and they’re just trying to be teenagers. It’s wonderful and three series is just enough.”

And as he marks his 100th film with a new flick, ‘Marlowe’, he reflected on how his new film takes him back to his own childhood.

“I have a very clear memory of growing up in Ballymena in the North of Ireland and we had a wee black and white TV in the corner of the room.

“Every Sunday there would be a movie on and it was usually a guy in a raincoat with the collar turned up, a trilby hat, and rain falling on him and it was a noir so I feel I’ve kind of grown up with it.

“I’d watch it with my father and it had Alan Ladd or John Garfield, occasionally Bogart and it was those kinds of guys.”