Why liam neeson doesn do comedy

And this period coincided with his emergence as an unlikely action phenomenon. In , Neeson had starred in Taken , a surprise hit about a retired CIA agent who tears through Paris after his teenage daughter Maggie Grace is abducted by Albanian human traffickers.

Over the years, other aging actors, like Kevin Costner and Nicolas Cage, have gotten in on the Dadsploitation genre, but Neeson remains the gold standard. The story focuses less on watching Mills kick ass and more on his attempts to protect his daughter and save Lenore, who has been grievously wounded. In the dire and lifeless Taken 3 , Lenore is actually killed, with Mills framed for her murder. In fact, most of the action films Neeson made during this time play like nightmares about losing his family, each more desperate and twisted than the last.

In the thriller Unknown , he plays a doctor visiting Berlin who, after a harrowing car crash, discovers that his existence has been virtually erased: His wife January Jones not only pretends not to know him, but she is now married to another man Aidan Quinn who has claimed his identity. In Run All Night , Neeson plays a pathetic, alcoholic mob enforcer doing his damnedest to protect his estranged boxer son Joel Kinnaman after the latter witnesses a murder.

A host of down and dirty but wildly profitable action movies may have once seemed unlikely for the mild-mannered Neeson, whose up-sloping eyebrows and gently melancholy demeanor made him ideal to play holy men, likable romantic leads, and noble historical figures. Decency exuded from him, and that tall frame lent him a certain regal presence which might be why he once made such a good Zeus.

It remains his sole Oscar nomination. He grew up a working-class Catholic kid in a predominantly Protestant town in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. He originally trained for years to be a boxer and even had a very brief career as a soccer player. He also worked a stint at the Guinness brewery. In , while promoting Cold Pursuit , Neeson spoke openly and remorsefully about a racist incident from his youth, when he found himself wandering the streets of Dublin looking for a Black man to beat after a friend of his was raped by someone who was Black.

The actor recounted the anecdote as an example of how disturbing and relatable a desire for violent revenge could be — it is, after all, the subject of so many of his films — but understandably found himself facing a storm of controversy. Some deemed him unredeemable; others praised his candidness. In some weird way, though, even talking about the incident was a very Liam Neeson thing to do. It was enough to get him a biopic many years later, and he even got Neeson to play him.

Not too shabby after Neeson had played Oskar Schindler. Back-to-back biopics? Hey, Neeson was in the world of serious drama at the time.

After all, not many Americans have heard of Collins, an Irish revolutionary who helped fight for the independence of Ireland in the early s.

It may have felt like a bit of a history lesson, but it was critically acclaimed, and Neeson got plenty of plaudits. Both Scorsese and Spielberg have praised it.

A remake in made sense. Unfortunately, despite all that, it was a flop and actually earned five Razzie nominations. The film was a critical flop, but it was a huge commercial hit.

Basically, everybody saw it, which means everybody says Neeson as Qui Gon Jinn, a new Jedi character. Cameron Diaz also shows up a bit and feels a little tacked on, but we digress.

Few people who have seen the ensemble romantic comedy seem to have a tepid response. Even fans of the film have sections they love or hate more than the others. When Neeson was introduced into the world of Batman as Henri Ducard, member of the League of Shadows, he was already providing gravitas and intrigue.

Sometimes all you need to do to be memorable is provide a voice. In the film, Aslan is voiced by Neeson. His role as a father with a particular set of skills made him a surprise action star, and this film spawned two sequels. Not at all. Do other people react that way? In Cold Pursuit , the son of his character, Nels Coxman, is killed by a drug gang, sparking the desire for revenge.

Punch him. In the real world, there are, of course, many different triggers behind that awful desire for violence. It is not uncommon for people to experience a desire for revenge after a sexual assault. Such incidents, she says, can lead to a variety of emotions ranging from shock to the shame of not being able to prevent the attack from happening.

They experience a secondary form of trauma, she explains. Some start thinking about what they could have done differently, and they may contemplate seeking retribution. Gender stereotypes can reinforce those feelings. When an attack does happen, they can feel powerless, which in turn can trigger a desire for control. They want them to face the consequence.

Lasana Harris is an associate professor of experimental psychology at University College London. Incidents as abhorrent as rape can, he says, shape the way someone thinks about a specific community. And this is not just relevant to race — for example, the thoughts one might harbour about young people, or old people as well as black people. He explains how our minds can generalise a negative experience with a person by categorising them in a way that may be flawed.