Oscar-winning actor Liam Neeson was pulled into the world of comedy by Seth MacFarlane with the “Nake Gun” soft-reboot after appearing in “Ted 2” and “A Million Ways To Die In The West.” It is starting to sound like Neeson welcomes the pivot to comedic roles from churning out endless action movies and is giving the impression he’s still looking to slow down his involvement in the genre.
Speaking with Variety, the veteran Irish actor is reiterating previous statements about winding down his action star status as his age is making it harder and harder to play a believable badass action character, and he doesn’t want to get to the point of insulting audiences.
“The first ‘Taken’ was 18 years ago, I was 54. Feels like a lifetime ago. I still get offered the occasional one. But I’m 73, for fuck’s sake. I don’t want to insult audiences if they’re watching whole fight scenes and it’s not me. I just wouldn’t do it. Up until recently, I liked doing my own fight stuff. But I don’t want to be doing that stuff with a Zimmer frame or walking stick. Sure, there might be another one out there, but nothing definite on the horizon,” Neeson said of his apprehension of doing more action projects, but isn’t entirely closing the door either. This comes after being asked if Neeson is looking to pursue a new era of comedic roles.
What is a definite rule for the actor is that he refuses to do horror, a potential side effect of his critically panned remake of the haunted house pic “The Haunting” from 1999, and the long-forgotten 2009 psychological horror movie “After.Life.”
“I’m a big believer in writers and the script. That’s the foundation stone, no matter what the genre. Except horror. I won’t do horror…As a kid, I would have loved it, the early Dracula films and Frankenstein, all that stuff, the Hammer movies, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing. But no, it’s just my taste,” Neeson said of his openness to genre projects, but that stops at horror.
And when it comes to a “Naked Gun” sequel being in development, he says, “No. I think we’ll wait and see how it performs.”
If you’re curious about Liam Neeson’s comedic chops, “Naked Gun” is currently playing in theaters, and you can check that out for yourself.
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