Irish actor Liam Neeson has revealed that despite Hollywood studios “throwing money” at him to make more Taken-style movies, he’s done with action films.
Liam Neeson – “The thrillers, that was all a pure accident”
In a surprise career move, Neeson pulled in huge audiences while starring in three Taken movies. He played a former CIA operative who is forced to use his past training to track down various members of his family when they are snatched by human traffickers.
However, speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival Neeson confirmed that his days as an action hero are coming to an end as he believes he is getting too old for thrillers.
He said: “The thrillers, that was all a pure accident. They’re still throwing serious money at me to do that stuff. I’m like, ‘Guys, I’m sixty-f****ng-five’. Audiences are eventually going to go, ‘Come on’.”
Liam Neeson in Taken
Fans of Neeson’s action work don’t need to worry just yet, as there are still two more action movies to come from the Ballymena native.
In Hard Powder, he plays a snow-plough driver who faces off with drug dealers, and The Commuter, with director Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed Neeson in Unknown, Non Stop and Run All Night.
“I’ve shot one that’s going to come out in January sometime. There might be another. That’s it. But not Taken, none of that franchise stuff.”
Neeson can next be seen in Watergate drama Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. He plays the high-ranking FBI official who was the Washington Post’s “Deep Throat” source in the scandal.
He has also lined up to co-star in Widows, by Twelve Years a Slave director Steve McQueen.