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Liam Neeson Announces His Retirement From Action Thriller Films

Liam Neeson Announces His Retirement From Action Thriller Films

Things just got serious

Michael Minay

Michael Minay

If there's one man who's known for his 'particular set of skills' - namely, his consistently excellent performances in action thrillers - it's Liam Neeson.

The 65-year-old Irishman's ability to convey an unmistakably dark edge is enough to put the fear into any bad guy.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

However, Neeson has said that he's set to hang up his phone and focus on more serious roles due to his age.

At the Toronto International Film Festival, he admitted that he wants to play different types of characters, despite the regular offers of work he gets to star in action thrillers.

The actor has had huge box office hits over the years, including three Taken films, but believes that he's too old to be the hero of the hour.

He said: "The thrillers, that was all pure accident. They're still throwing serious money at me to do that stuff.

"I'm like, 'Guys, I'm sixty-fucking-five.' Audiences are eventually going to go, 'Come on.'"

Neeson has two more upcoming revenge thrillers which he's already recorded. Hard Powder will see him play a snowplow driver who faces off with drug dealers, while in The Commuter he's set to star as an insurance salesman who is contacted by a stranger to uncover a hidden passenger on his train, with life-or-death consequences.

Credit: Studio Canal

"I've shot one that's going to come out in January sometime. There might be another. That's it," Neeson added. "But not Taken, none of that franchise stuff."

He instead wants to look at more challenging work, with his Watergate drama: Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House having premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday.

He's also lined-up to co-star in Widows, a film directed by Steve McQueen (Twelve Years A Slave), and in December, Neeson starred in Martin Scorsese's spiritual epic, Silence.

The Taken trilogy will go down as one of his most famous pieces of work - raking in a total of over $929 million (£701.1m) at the box office.

In 2014, the actor was believed to have a net worth of $75m (£56.6m) having starred in 80 films up to that point.

Source: Sky News

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Thriller