“I think that’s important for audiences to see that,that I get hurt,that I have trouble getting up off the ground,it takes longer.”
Well,it takes some of us longer just to get out of bed in the morning. (In fact,Neeson even appeared to nod off while shooting a scene when I visited theBlacklight set in December 2020.)
“I know,forget about it,” he says,laughing. “But I keep reasonably fit,you just have to. I think if you’re playing the lead in any film,whether it’s action or not,it behooves you to eat well,try and sleep well,and look after yourself because there’s 50 to 100 crew members waiting for you every morning. You have to be there,you have to be on time,you have to look out for yourself.”
If making a movie during COVID came with a slew of onerous new conditions,you won’t hear Neeson complaining about it. Quarantine in Sydney – armed with Kindle,an iPad loaded with TV shows and movies,and a bedroom converted into a gym,with a squad of Irish nurses bringing him fresh-baked bread and scones – was such a doddle that he insists “I was very sad to leave,seriously”.
While shooting in Melbourne,he was confined to a production bubble until the day before he left,when he visited Healesville Sanctuary,an experience he describes as “breathtaking”.
Loading
“I’m sounding like a tourist now,but I’d never seen a koala,I’d never seen a kangaroo,and to feed a kangaroo off your fingers,I’ll never forget it.”
That may sound uncharacteristically cuddly,but rest assuredBlacklight is a classic Liam Neeson action movie – practically a genre in its own right – with the added bonus of a thoughtful conspiracy-thriller edge. “It wasn’t just a bang-bang shoot-’em-up,you know,because that’s boring. It’s just boring.”
Still,there’s a curious line in the movie,which is directed and co-written byOzark creator Mark Williams,when Neeson’s character Travis Black,an off-the-books FBI operative,suddenly realises that his boss (Aidan Quinn) might not be acting in the public interest after all. “In hindsight,” he says,“I suspect I made a poor career choice”.
Ought we to read that as a wry reflection on the path of your own career,away from the awards-worthy stuff of aSchindler’s List to the biff-bang of theTaken trilogy and its spawn?
“It’s funny,” he says,ducking the question like the old pugilist he is,“in[Neil Jordan’s]Marlowe I have a scene where I get into an altercation and as I’m leaving I mumble to myself as I’m passing the camera,‘I’m getting too old for this’. That was embellished with truth.”
And yet there’s no sign of you giving it up.
“Not this year anyway.”
Blacklight opens in cinemas nationally on Thursday