Liam Neeson has revealed the one detail he always checks before agreeing to star in a new action film: whether the people offering him the part actually know how old he is. The 74-year-old actor made the comment in an interview with PEOPLE magazine, describing how he weighs the movie offers that come his way.
Neeson said his conversations with his agent, Chris, tend to follow a familiar pattern. He reads the script, notices the character is 52, and asks his agent whether the filmmakers realize how old he really is, before thanking him and moving on. He said that is essentially how the process works.
For the past 20 years, Neeson has been closely identified with action cinema, largely through the Taken franchise, in which his character draws on a past career to rescue his kidnapped daughter. In just the last three years alone he has appeared in In the Land of Saints and Sinners, Absolution, Ice Road: Vengeance, Cold Storage and The Naked Gun. He is now starring in The Fix, a thriller set against the backdrop of the Central Intelligence Agency, alongside Zachary Levi.
Willing to try any genre except horror
Asked whether he has a preferred genre, Neeson said he does not, with one exception. He said what he personally enjoys is simply the process itself: being with other actors and a great crew, sharing a sense of camaraderie, and telling a story together. He said the genre does not matter to him at all, except for horror, which he said he will not do.
Neeson explained that this sense of companionship on set, more than the type of film, is what continues to draw him to new projects even as he passes his mid-70s.
Nearly 50 years on screen
Neeson's career on screen now spans almost 50 years, dating back to his film debut in 1978 in Pilgrim's Progress. In 1994 he received an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his role in Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg's drama about a German businessman who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust, which remains one of the most acclaimed films of the 1990s.
Beyond that role, Neeson has appeared in some of the most popular films of recent decades, including The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Batman Begins, Gangs of New York and Love Actually, a body of work that stretches well beyond the action roles he has become known for more recently.
Neeson credits his career to luck
Asked what he believes explains his success, Neeson pointed to a single factor: luck. He said he meant that sincerely, but also believes people create their own luck. He said it does not come looking for someone lying on the couch of a basement flat in London, and that a person has to get up and actually do something to create that luck. He said he has been very lucky himself.
Neeson's reflections come as he promotes The Fix, his latest addition to a filmography that continues to lean heavily on the action genre nearly five decades into his career.
