In a move that may signal the beginning of many more A-list names making the journey over from Hollywood to promote their films in the UAE, the Taken franchise’s Liam Neeson was on the campaign trail at the One & Only Royal Mirage, Dubai, yesterday, drumming up business for its latest instalment - Taken 3 - opening on Thursday. Deliberately avoiding the vast amount of releases during the Dubai International Film Festival, a hint that production houses are aware of the region’s schedules and will perhaps co-ordinate year-round efforts to make more of an advertising impact, Liam said he believed exposing new territories such as the Middle East to movie marketing was a positive move for the industry.
Business talk continued when we asked Liam about the money Taken 3 has... well... taken since it debuted in the States over the weekend. $40 million already makes the picture a resounding financial success and, despite this reportedly being the final hurrah for his alter ego Bryan Mills, would Liam be tempted to give the cash cow another run out?
“What, for Taken Four, Five, Six and Seven?” He said to the amusement of those present. “I don’t think so. Not with me. The poster says ‘It ends here.’
“There was some journalist that thought something could develop with Forest [Whitaker] and myself, which we could call something else. Not Taken.”
Attracting an actor the calibre of Forest Whitaker to the franchise was not lost on the Oscar-nominated star.
“I was thrilled. I remember when I read the script we needed a heavyweight actor for the part of the LAPD. He has so many procedural police lines to say that could have sounded like any other cop show on TV. An actor like Forest, he just does something with the character that makes him a worthy adversary.”
The movie’s plot runs much the same as the previous two in the series. Bryan Mills rekindles a relationship with his estranged wife, she turns up murdered and the LAPD suspect him. Bryan then goes on the run, using his “particular set of skills,” in tracking down the real perpetrator in an effort to bring them to justice.
“It’s always the writing and whether there’s something about the character,” Liam said when asked what attracted him to scripts. Although, when approached seven years ago at the age of 54 to front the first Taken, it was something rather different that inspired the choice.
“The first one - it was the physicality of it. I thought it was a very simple little story and I get a chance to do all this fighting and stuff, which is fun.
“I’ve got a couple of years left to do action films. There are two or three in the pipeline. But overall I love writing.”
Would he be interested in working behind the camera?
“No, I’m not a writer. I like the gypsy existence of acting. As a director you have to live with something for a long time. My friend Ralph Fiennes does it and swears he’ll never do it again. Then the next thing I hear, he’s [directing] something else.”
It is the appreciation of a decent text that has seen the majority of Liam’s onscreen work (Taken aside) garner critical acclamation. Who can forget his seminal performance as Oskar Schindler in 1993’s Schindler’s List, or his turn as Professor Kinsey in the eponymous 2004 movie?
However, it is playing the part of Irish Civil War revolutionary Michael Collins in the 1996 film of the same name, from which he derives most pride.
“He was one of the founding fathers of modern Ireland. He was a very controversial but very gifted man. People flocked to it.”
After becoming the modern face of such an iconic character in his homeland’s history, does he consider himself an active political participant?
“I’m not. I live in New York, I get Irish-American newspapers and I try and keep in touch with things.
“But I’m an American citizen. I’m a father. I am very concerned with gun laws. It’s rampant in America – guns. There are 300 million handguns and about 318 million people in America. If we have to read one more time about kids being shot up in school, we’re becoming immune to it now!”
What does he say to the notion that action films like Taken 3 can glorify violence?
I don’t think it glorifies it. I think it’s a cartoon. It’s entertainment. I adored Westerns as a kid and came out with pointed fingers ‘shooting’ people. You come out of the movie theatre satiated. It doesn’t mean you’re going to come out and buy a gun.”
Read here about Liam's consideration of converting to Islam after a trip to Turkey!
