Liam Neeson is ready for ‘hot Irish guy summer’, reveals why he said no to playing James Bond

Liam Neeson is gearing up for the release of his latest film, In The Land of Saints and Sinners. In an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the actor opened up about declining James Bond, and the recent interest in a bunch of Irish actors in Hollywood- including Cillian Murphy and Paul Mescal. (Also read: Pierce Brosnan ‘tips his hat’ to Aaron Taylor-Johnson to be the next James Bond: He has the chops, talent, charisma)

On ‘young and talented’ Irish actors

During his appearance when the host asked Liam about the new wave of attention that the current batch of Irish actors like Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Cillian Murphy are receiving, he joked, “Is that from 1980 or so? Well, that’s interesting. I wonder why. It is Cillian Murphy! And Paul Mescal!” When the host joked whether he hates how all of them are ‘young and talented’, Liam said, “Yeah! Especially those two!”

On declining James Bond

Liam also shared how he was considered for the role of James Bond, after he had received an Oscar nomination for his work in the Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List. “Yeah, it was after Schindler’s List. And I, my wife and I were doing a movie in North Carolina. And I got a couple of calls from Barbara Broccoli. And he’s the producer, one of the producers. And I said, Oh, yeah, I’d be interested.’ While my wife went, ‘If you play James Bond, we’re not getting married!’ Yeah. I guess there’s Bond girls and things! Locations are over there…” he said.

Liam joked then he was not going to do method acting with all the actresses and recalled how he used to annoy his late wife by imitating that he is firing guns at her. The role ultimately went to Daniel Craig.

Liam also opened up about doing the Naked Gun reboot. The first three movies with Leslie Nielsen released in 1988, 1991 and 1994. Liam said that he is a huge fan of the original films and is very excited to star in the film.

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