The method acting Liam Neeson regrets: “I would have told him to fuck off, but I didn’t”
Liam Neeson has played some incredibly famous characters in his time. He lent his distinctive voice to Aslan the lion in the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ film series, adding the necessary gravitas to that universe’s equivalent of Jesus Christ. ‘Star Wars’ fans will know him as Qui-Gon Jinn, the master of a young Obi-Wan Kenobi; he played Jean Valjean in the 1998 version of Les Misérables; and he served as Batman’s first antagonist Ra’s al Ghul in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy.
One of the more interesting entries in his filmography is John ‘Hannibal’ Smith in the 2010 movie The A-Team. Inspired by the popular 1980s TV show of the same name, the film follows a group of Iraq War veterans (Vietnam in the original) framed for a war crime they didn’t commit, attempting to clear their names. The film took a grittier approach to the story, in stark contrast to the light-hearted, fluffier feel of the original show. It drew criticism from critics, fans, and even members of the original cast. It now lies mostly forgotten; buried amongst Neeson’s more memorable outings.
The star will remember the film however, but for all the wrong reasons. Hannibal, the group’s leader, famously loved a cigar. He was rarely seen without one clamped between his teeth, which was a big problem for the new actor. “I’m a nicotine addict and I’d quit smoking cigarettes,” Neeson revealed to Cigar Aficionado. “So I had this idea to pay homage to that original character: I wanted the props department to make me fake cigars of different sizes, and I’d just hold them in my mouth. And whenever someone offered me a light, I’d say, ‘Thanks, I’m trying to stop.’”
Unfortunately for Neeson and his lungs, director Joe Carnahan hated this idea. “[He] insisted that the cigars not only be real but that they be Cuban and that I smoke them,” he said. “If I was doing the film now, I would have told him to fuck off.” Luckily, Bradley Cooper, who played Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck in the movie, was a keen cigar smoker. He would smoke the Cubans after ‘cut’ was called, so Neeson didn’t have to relapse.
Neeson was wise to avoid falling back into his old habit. George Peppard, the actor who played Hannibal in the TV show, was a serious smoker. He reportedly went through three packs of cigarettes a day throughout his life. He only quit in 1992, following a diagnosis of lung cancer and the removal of part of his lung in an operation. He died two years later.
If the new Hannibal had gotten his way, it might have caused even more uproar from fans of the TV show. The A-Team might have contained a gunfight every week and seen Face schmooze various lovely ladies, but the tone of the show was very PG. The movie, however, which was given a PG-13 rating in the United States, felt much more adult, a far cry from its source material.
It might not have broken box office records or made people particularly happy, but Neeson’s experiences on the set of The A-Team taught him a valuable lesson about standing up for himself. Although, he clearly didn’t mind Carnahan that much – the two would collaborate again on The Grey just two years later.
