Liam Neeson has stated that the role of James Bond was once his to assume, but his partner had other plans as the hunt for the next 007 went on.
Neeson’s fame was at an all-time high in the early 1990s due to the success of “Schindler’s List,” in which he played the lead role, and the James Bond producers reportedly came knocking.
Until his then-girlfriend, actress Natasha Richardson, intervened out of concern for what Neeson called the “gorgeous girls in various countries getting in and out of (Bond’s) bed,” Neeson claimed he had expressed a strong interest in the part.
The actor reportedly said that Richardson had told him she wouldn’t marry him if he accepted the role, so he declined, leaving Pierce Brosnan free to obtain the license to kill. Prior to the actress’s passing in a skiing mishap in 2009, Neeson and Richardson had two sons together after getting married in 1994.
High-octane action thrills have been a big part of Liam Neeson’s work. He said that despite being 70, he still gets action screenplays for his current role as Philip Marlowe in a modernized version of the Los Angeles-based private investigator.
The “Taken” actor said, “I’ll contact my agent and ask them if they know my age.”
Some claim that I perform my own exploits. I’m not. However, the dollar number is really nice. I’m not growing any younger either.