Liam Neeson has been a part of the industry for more than four decades. In his long and successful career, the 70-year-old actor has done films in all kinds of genres. Some of his popular films include ‘Batman Begins’, ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Taken‘ and ‘The Phantom Menace.’
Recently, the veteran said that he was offered the role of James Bond once. However, he had to reject the film because of his wife’s ultimatum. It’s hard to imagine him as the 007 agent now, but it could have happened. So let’s find out why his wife gave an ultimatum.
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Liam Neeson Was Offered To Play James Bond
Liam Neeson has played all kinds of characters in his long career. From heroes to saviors to villains, he has done it all. There was also a time when the ‘Taken‘ actor was offered the role of James Bond.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Neeson revealed that the producer of James Bond Barbara Broccoli contacted him quite a few times to play the role of the British spy agent in the 1990s. This was right after he received an Oscar nomination for ‘Schindler’s List.’
‘Schindler’s List’ had come out and Barbara [Broccoli] had called me a couple of times to ask if I was interested, and I said, ‘Yes, I would be interested‘”, he recalls. However, his late wife Natasha Richardson didn’t want him to do that role.
He said Natashan said to him “while we were shooting ‘Nell’ down in the Carolinas, ‘Liam, I want to tell you something: If you play James Bond, we’re not getting married.’” Neeson’s love for his wife outmatched his interest to play that character.
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Neeson Doesn’t Want To Return To The ‘Star Wars’ Franchise
Neeson portrayed the role of Qui-Gon Jinn in the 1999 space opera film ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.’ It was the first film in George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy.
However, he does not want to return to the franchise which is inundated with a lot of spin-offs and sequels. “No, I’m not,” he said when asked whether he wants to reprise Jinn’s role.
“There’s so many spinoffs of ‘Star Wars.’ It’s diluting it to me, and it’s taken away the mystery and the magic in a weird way,” Neeson said.
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