Taken star Liam Neeson has hinted he’s stepping down from playing action heroes next year as he’s getting too old for the intensive roles.
Neeson is one of Northern Ireland’s most successful acting talents, having received three Golden Globe awards, two Tony awards, a BAFTA and an Academy award.
The Ballymena-born actor rose to fame after his appearance in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and has since starred in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Batman Begins and The Chronicles of Narnia.
He is however most widely known these days for playing the tough protagonist in crime thrillers including in the three Taken movies, as well as Retribution and In The Land of Saints And Sinners, both released in 2023.
His upcoming films also include the thriller Hotel Tehran.
Stuntman Mark Vanselow would fill in for the more acrobatic takes, however up to now Neeson would still take on all his fight scenes independently.
Speaking to US magazine People, the Hollywood star said he’ll eventually step down from action roles and hinted at a 2025 exit.
Neeson said: “I’m 72 −it has to stop at some stage.”
“You can’t fool audiences. I don’t want (my Taken stunt double) Mark (Vanselow) to be fighting my fight scenes for me,” he added.
Neeson’s debut action role was Taken which sees an ex-government operative rescue his kidnapped daughter from a criminal gang.
He explained how the film managed to grip the imagination of cinema goers.
“It just seemed to have touched something in the psychic nerve of movie going audiences,” he said.
“Maybe the end of next year. I think that’s it.”
Watch: Liam Neeson Teaches Jimmy Fallon how to throw a fake punch on The Tonight Show
Neeson married his late wife Natasha Richardson in 1994 is a father of two.
He is also set to play the staggeringly inept detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin (Nielsen) as the slapstick series The Naked Gun is set to return in 2025 in a production directed by The Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer.
Neeson also starred in 2023’s Marlowe, about a brooding, down-on-his-luck detective hired to find the former lover of a glamorous heiress in Los Angeles.
The role of detective Phillip Marlowe is based on the famous character created by American-British author Raymond Chandler.
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Meanwhile, he recent reflected about opportunity to be the face of the 007 franchise as James Bond in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
The actor was approached after his initial success in Schindler’s list, however at the time his wife said he had to choose between her or the role.
He said “My lovely wife, God rest her soul, said to me while we were shooting Nell in the Carolinas, ‘Liam, I want to tell you something: if you play James Bond, we’re not getting married’.
“She gave me a James Bond ultimatum. And she meant it! Come on, there’s all those gorgeous girls in various countries getting into bed and getting out of bed. I’m sure a lot of her decision-making was based on that.”
The Oscar nominated star is set to take the lead of the new thriller Absolution in what could be one of the final action roles of his career.