When stunt𒁃 casting works, it&rs൲quo;ll be for one of two reasons.
Most often, when an actor everybody knew was terrific finds new and unexpected ways to be awesome – think well-known woman Cate Blanchett pla๊ying confirmed man Bob Dylan in .
Every once in a while, though, an actor t💃akes themselves off in a radical direction that pays off so grandly, we ༺can only wonder what took them so long.
Leslie Nielsen post- once held the mid-career turnaround record – at least until Liam Neeson 🤪went from being everyone’s favourite mentor to single-handedly destroying Paris in .
Since 2008, we’ve gotten used to Oskar Schindler’s move from saving lives to, well, taking them ( , ), but it’s important to remember what a refreshing shock t✱he sheer scale of Neeson’s makeover was.
Even while beating up Christian Bale in , he’d been more sage t🌊han bruiser, and in most of his other roles had been settling into middle age as a kind of lanky, 🧸celtic Morgan Freeman.
He was a reassuring voice of be🦹nign authority, a man who could giꦰve stubbing his toe Mandela-esque degrees of stoicism and dignity.
He played Aslan, for Christ’s sake.
Then something happened. The folks at Luc Besson’s Europacorp studio were mulling over who to cast in a quasi-remake of Commando they had rolling around.
V🅰in Diesel? Bruce Willis? Dolph Lundgren? They had the brawn, but where was the class? It’s a French company, after all.
Then someone, somehow, had a brainwave. Whatღಌ about l’acteur Irlandais Liam Neeson?
He’d had fight training for and Batman Begins .
He was big, and touted enough ‘Norn Iron’ grit to suggest he could l꧒ay the smack down.
Crucially, he was a seasoned enough pro to be able to sell the most preposterous nonsense as powerful drama – convenient when you’re purveying cheerfully retrograde tosh like Taken .
Think about it. Pierre Morel’s film could, withou🦂t a great deal of tinkering, be a Stevꦚen Seagal vehicle.
Lord alone knows what Nee🐷son saw in the part of a quasi-omnipotent CIA agent ♛with politics that made Nick Griffin look like Tony Benn; what’s important, though, is that he took it and boy did he make the most of it.
A man previously best known for breaking down at the end of Schindler’s List was now throa♚t-punching his way around the world, dispensing rough street justice as he chose, and doing it as if to the manor born.
There’s a reason why Schwarzenegger never playe♐d the Dane, and why Philip Seymour Hoffman is ඣunlikely to fight a man for a parachute in mid-air.
It’s a profoundly different skillset, so when an actor crosses over and displ♒ays equal facility in both enigmatic stares and breaking necks, it’s a rare thing, and to be cherished.
Taken was the film where Liam N💫eeson somehow managed to straddle both camps; can you imagine Daniel Day-Lewis🌳, Colin Firth or Jeff Bridges doing it half as well?
And that’s why Taken is his greatest role. Or is it just me?
VOICES OF REASON
Matthew Leyland
It was a relief to see Neeson break from the mentor mould and do something down ‘n&rsqu🎶o; di🎶rty. But his greatest role? . Clash Of The Accents...
Sam Ashurst
Name his character. Go on. I want you to remember it. No? It’s Bryan Mills. A character name you can’t even remember is not more remarkable than Oskar Schindler. Aside from the vague Euro-racism, Taken is fun, but it’s a CV entry, not a career-defi🅷ner.
Jane Crowther
By that criterion couldn’t the same be said for thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚesps Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren beating up thugs in ? Didn&rsq🔯uo;t think so.
Rosie Fletcher
It’s not just you! Liam made a morally dodgy movie kind of sweet &n🎉dash; who wouldn’t want him for a dad? Don’t agree about Daniel Day-Lewis though. He’d drink Neeson’s milkshake.
