Liam Neeson says his action roles will end once he hits 70
Liam Neeson says his action movie career “will draw to a close” once he hits 70.
The ‘Blacklight’ star - who reaches the milestone on June 7 - believes his offers to appear in that genre of movies will soon dry up as "audiences aren't stupid" and they won't believe a man of his advanced years could beat up the bad guys.
Liam told Sunday’s edition of the 'Today Show': “I think the action movies will draw to a close — they have to. Audiences aren’t stupid, you know. They’re gonna go, ‘Oh, f*** this guy, Liam Neeson. He’s got to be 71, 72, 73.’ I’ll stop at some stage.”
The ‘Taken’ star doesn’t understand how he “still” manages to fool audiences into thinking he’d be a believable action hero.
Liam - who has two sons Michael, 26, and Daniel, 26 with his late wife, actress Natasha Richardson, who died in 2009 - said: “I turn 70 this year, so I’m still getting away with it.”
Liam admits he's loved doing all of his own fight scenes for his action flicks because he gets to put his amateur boxing skills to good use.
He said: “I love it. I was an amateur boxer from the age of nine to 17 and I just love that physicality.”
The ‘Love Actually’ star said that his two passions - boxing and acting - were incredibly helpful in coping with growing up in Belfast during the ‘The Troubles’.
Revealing how he got into the sport, he said: “We had a great parish priest who startled a little boxing club. We were surrounded by violence, surrounded by it. Every day, every night, and yet I accepted it.”
Liam labelled acting as “lifeline” and his route out of his old life.
He said: "I was going to get out. I fell in love with acting and it was a lifeline."
