LIAM NEESON IS STILL READY FOR ACTION

THE LEGENDARY ACTOR OPENS UP ABOUT HIS SURPRISING CAREER PATH, RAISING HIS TWO SONS AFTER THE DEATH OF WIFE NATASHA RICHARDSON AND WHY HE CONSIDERS HIMSELF LUCKY'

- ERIC ANDERSSON

Like a man on a mission in one of his many action movies, Liam Neeson was hoping to slip away undetected. It was a recent autumn day, and the actor was in a New York City courthouse where he’d reported for jury duty. He wasn’t selected for a trial and sat reading a Patricia Cornwell mystery on his Kindle while waiting to be released by the clerk. “He’s calling, I don’t know, 55, 60 of us. He gets to me, but all I’m hearing is, ‘I have a particular set of skills. Skills that would make me...’ And I thought, ‘Oh f--- no,’” Neeson says with an amused smile, as he recalls hearing the recitation of his monologue from the hit 2009 thriller Taken. “It was actually really sweet and flattering. As I was leaving, people started to applaud.”

It’s no surprise that fans remain quite, um, taken with Neeson. The Northern Ireland native started out onstage in the 1970s before starring in some of the biggest films of the past few decades: He was the hero of Steven Spielberg’s Best Picture-winning drama Schindler’s List (earning an Oscar nomination himself), a Jedi Master in the Star Wars franchise and a charming widower in the enduring holiday favorite Love Actually. But with Taken—a revenge drama about a former government agent who must rescue his kidnapped daughter—Neeson found a second act as an action star, connecting with viewers more than ever before. Says the actor: “It just seemed to have touched something in the psychic nerve of moviegoing audiences.”