The movie that made Liam Neeson feel like one of The Beatles
Liam Neeson has been an actor for a long time, but only one movie made him feel like he was rubbing shoulders with John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Film » Cutting Room Floor
Wed 5 February 2025 7:30, UK
Certain A-list actors and superstar musicians can whip up a frenzy among their adoring fans simply by existing, and with the greatest of respect, Liam Neeson isn’t one of them.
He’s been a professional working actor for over 40 years, he’s recognisable worldwide, he’s been in many movies that a lot of people have seen, he’s an Academy Award nominee, a latter-stage action hero, and has a decent track record of box office success as a leading man, but he’s not exactly Tom Cruise.
That’s not intended to disparage Neeson because it’s accurate to say that whenever he’s out and about in public, he doesn’t need to be accompanied by a cabal of bodyguards and a police escort to prevent his most devoted supporters from swarming him. However, on one occasion, he felt like the fifth honorary member of The Beatles, and he seemed to quite enjoy the experience.
Very few entities in pop culture history, whether they’re people, bands, or franchises, have created a fervour even remotely close to the madness that followed the Fab Four around at the apex of their fame. Beatlemania is a phenomenon that’s likely to never be replicated again, even if Neeson did get a little taste.
Needless to say, he wasn’t being blinded by flashbulbs and greeted by screaming hordes of Schindler’s List superfans during a trip overseas, but that didn’t make it any less surprising for the actor that traipsing around the French capital and pounding Eastern European bad guys into a bloody pulp would place him on the same level as John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
“We were all really surprised by the success of Taken,” he admitted to Collider ahead of the action movie’s sequel arriving in 2012. “I just came back from South Korea where the film, the first one, did amazing. I felt like one of The Beatles, to be honest with you. And they were all kids, these 16, 20-year-old kids, boys and girls, going crazy, they couldn’t wait to see Taken 2, you know?”
It might sound like he’s exaggerating, but he’s not. The film that reinvented Neeson as the action genre’s premiere elder statesman was originally supposed to head straight to video before being upgraded to a theatrical release, and the only reason he ended up with the role of Bryan Mills in the first place was because Jeff Bridges had dropped out.
The sleeper hit came close to earning a quarter of a billion dollars in ticket sales, and what was its second most lucrative market behind the United States? South Korea, of course, and by quite some distance. It may not have been on the same level, but for a brief while, Neesonmania was running wild.
Related Topics
Liam NeesonThe Beatles