Liam Neeson was 56 when his career took an unexpected detour into the action hero genre thanks to 2008’s Taken, a Pierre Morel-directed surprise blockbuster that raked in more than $226 million worldwide and kick-started a franchise. He’s kept up a respectable pace ever since, churning out high-octane thrillers one after the next — and he’s not ready to hang up his holster.
“Audiences are innately intelligent and they’ll know when you’re past your prime in regards to throwing punches and firing guns, but I’m not there yet,” explained Neeson over Zoom last week while discussing his newest film, In the Land of Saints and Sinners. The Samuel Goldwyn Films release casts Neeson, who will be 72 in June, as Finbar Murphy, a man leading a relatively quiet life in the remote coastal town of Glencolmcille, Ireland, in the 1970s. While he’s eager to leave a dark past behind, a menacing crew of terrorists arrives in the village, led by a ruthless woman, played by Banshees of Inisherin star Kerry Condon, forcing him to choose between revealing his secret identity or protecting his neighbors.
The film, which premiered last fall at the Venice Film Festival, offered Neeson more than another chance to hold a gun. It delivered another chance to work with his The Marksman helmer Robert Lorenz and a huge bonus in being surrounded by a cast of high-profile Irish actors, many of whom he counts as close friends, including Ciarán Hinds and Colm Meaney. Neeson talks to The Hollywood Reporter about working with his longtime pals, how he came to sign on for the Naked Gun sequel and the upcoming film that also stars his mother-in-law, Vanessa Redgrave, whom he expects to “steal the whole movie.”
Let’s talk about Finbar Murphy, who is not a typical hitman. He reads Fyodor Dostoevsky and has a conscience. What appealed to you most about playing him?
It’s a shame, actually, that doesn’t he have a more Irish name,…
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