Liam Neeson names his favourite role
Known best for his central roles in Star Wars, Schindler’s List, Love Actually, Taken and Martin Scorsese’s Silence, Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson is a bonafide legend of humbling versatility. Whether fighting with lightsabers in a galaxy far, far away or grappling with single parenthood at Christmas, Neeson never fails to bring distinctive gravity to his roles.
When considering Neeson’s best performances, it’d be difficult to pick holes in any of the above movies as potential front runners. Alas, Neeson managed to pick a role in the hit action movie Taken.
After taking the role, working under director Pierre Morel, Neeson remembered thinking the script was a little bit “corny,” especially the famous “I have a particular set of skills” line. “I certainly did sound scary, but I thought it was corny,” Neeson told Vanity Fair in 2023. “It was a cornball. I really did feel that. It’s nice to be proven wrong.”
Although Neeson maintains that the tense phone call scene was somewhat cheesy, he was pleasantly surprised by Taken’s global success. “I thought, ‘Well, this is going to go straight to video. A short little European thriller, it might play okay for a couple weeks in France, and then it will go straight-to-video,'” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2020. “But Fox took it, and they very cleverly did a good trailer and put it during various sporting events around the country, and they made it a real success.”
Despite this success, we can understand why the movie might not be Neeson’s overall favourite role. Intriguingly, Neeson’s favourite was one of his less well-known titles. “Well, I don’t follow the trends, I’ll be honest with you,” Neeson told the Daily News at The Peninsula New York in 2020 while promoting the romantic drama Ordinary Love.
“My personal favourite was Michael Collins,” he asserted. “He was one of the founding fathers of the modern Irish state — a highly controversial figure, not least because he invented modern-day terrorism,” he added, describing the movie’s central protagonist whom he portrayed.
The 1996 biographical period drama film was written and directed by Neil Jordan, following the story of Collins, a leading figure in the early-20th-century Irish struggle for independence from Britain.
“This cell of three people didn’t know what this cell of four people were doing, didn’t know what this cell of two people were doing,” Neeson continued, explaining the plot. “He invented that. Terrorists still use that.
“When the state of Israel was being formed in the 40s, they had codenames like ‘Michael,'” Neeson explained, in “honour” of the late Collins. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was one of Collins’ most outspoken fans.
“That’s why he’s still controversial,” Neeson continued. “And still very controversial in Ireland. Certainly, in Britain, he is. He was killed in 1922. Anyway, that’s my personal favourite film.”
Later in the conversation, Neeson was asked whether he had any least favourite movie roles. In response, the actor revealed that he’s always enjoyed acting whatever the role.
“I love the process of making a film,” he said. “I love working with the crew; I love working with actors. There’s a wonderful bond you do form. The best films and the worst films, you know? I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done, because I’ve always come away with some positive experience or worked with someone or been in somebody’s company. You always learn something, you know?”
Watch the trailer for Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins below.
