Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson recalls how he classified 2008’s Taken as a simple story that would become a straight-to-video film.
Liam Neeson now admits that he didn’t expect his franchise-launching hit action film Taken to gain as much success as it did.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the esteemed 70-year-old Irish actor recalled how he initially believed 2008’s Taken would become a straight-to-video film considering its “simple story.” Neeson also remembered the epic phone call speech with his daughter’s kidnappers in a drastically different light.
“I certainly did sound scary, but I thought it was corny. It was a cornball. I really did feel that,” he said. “It’s nice to be proven wrong.” In the years since Taken’s release, the “I will find you, and I will kill you” and “very particular set of skills” conversation has become an Internet meme.
Liam Neeson’s Action Star Turn
Released in 2008, Taken arguably launched Neeson’s career as an action film hero. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen’s French English-language movie follows Bryan Mills (Neeson), an ex-CIA officer who searches for his missing teenage daughter and best friend after Albanian human traffickers kidnap them while on vacation in France.
After learning his daughter lied about following U2 on their European tour, Bryan must use his tracking skills to infiltrate the Albanian sex ring.
Indeed, the film was a major departure from the actor’s 1993 breakthrough role as the star of director Steven Spielberg’s haunting Holocaust drama, Schindler’s List, as the eponymous Oskar Schindler, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Following the success of the 2008 film, Taken spawned two sequels, one released in 2012 and another in 2014. Additionally, a 2017 television series aired two seasons on NBC before its cancellation.
Taken focuses on Bryan’s origin story as a former Green Beret and his journey to becoming a spy for the CIA. Instead of Neeson, Camelot actor Clive Standen portrayed Bryan. Supporting cast members included Flashdance’s Jennifer Beals, Grey’s Anatomy actor Gaius Charles and Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings’ Simu Liu in a brief role.
Liam Neeson’s Belated Star Wars Return
However, in a genre role that preceded Neeson’s Taken trilogy, the actor took a franchise spotlight playing Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in the 1999 Prequel Trilogy film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Eventually, after two decades of not seeing Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon share a screen, Neeson donned the Jedi robes again for the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. In Episode 6, the final episode, the prequel series character appears as a Force Ghost with an encouraging word to his Padawan.
At a press conference, Neeson reminisced about how he and Ewan McGregor became emotional during rehearsal for the Obi-Wan Kenobi episode. “We rehearsed it before we shot it, and we just started crying, and it was lovely,” Neeson said. Additionally, McGregor shared nothing but high praise for his Star Wars co-star.
“Liam is a hero of mine,” he said. “So when I was growing up and wanting to be an actor, I was always watching Liam Neeson’s work, and he was involved in some beautiful work as a younger actor.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi is available to stream on Disney+.
