Over the past two decades, Liam Neeson has become a bona fide action star, but at age 73, he’s fully prepared to hang it up.
Variety questioned whether the Naked Gun star’s action era has “closed” in an interview published on Friday, August 1.
“The first Taken was 18 years ago, I was 54. Feels like a lifetime ago,” he told the outlet. “I still get offered the occasional one. But I’m 73, for f–k’s sake.”
Neeson explained that aging has impacted his ability to film action sequences like he did in the past.
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“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,” he continued. “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.”
Despite his hesitations, Neeson acknowledged that he’s not completely opposed to a future action role, though nothing is official yet.
“Sure, there might be another one out there but nothing definite on the horizon,” he added.
In his 50s, Neeson became a go-to action star after leading the 2008 thriller Taken, which spawned two sequels, 2012’s Taken 2 and 2015’s Taken 3. Following the first film’s success, he landed roles in 2010’s The A-Team, 2011’s The Grey and Unknown, 2012’s Wrath of the Titans, 2014’s A Walk Among the Tombstones and Non-Stop, 2015’s Run All Night, 2018’s The Commuter, 2019’s Cold Pursuit and 2021’s The Ice Road.
Neeson is currently trying his hand at comedy in his new film, The Naked Gun, which was released in theaters on Friday. When pressed by Variety about whether comedy could be “a nice, gentler, less fighter genre to move into,” he replied, “Sure. Yeah. But I’m a big believer in writers and the script. That’s the foundation stone, no matter what the genre.”
