Regarded among one of the most successful action franchises, Taken has a special place in the heart of the fans. The movie franchise was produced by Luc Besson and written by Robert Mark Kamen. It is the movie that re-established the career of the actor Liam Neeson.

The actor did several action movies in the past, including Rob Roy, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Kingdom of Heaven, and Batman Begins. However, it was Taken that established his image as an action hero.

Liam NeesonLiam Neeson

The Marksman actor recently opened up on the success of the Taken franchise which earned more than $226 million at the box office. The actor shared in an interview with Indiewire that he thought the movie would go straight to DVD and would not work in theatres. In the movie, Neeson plays the role of a retired CIA operative named Bryan Mills, who uses his fighting skills to get back his kidnapped daughter in Europe.

Liam Neeson reveals how he got the role in Taken

In the interview, Liam Neeson shared that he had read the script for Taken and did not have high hopes for the movie. The actor recalled he wanted the part because the movie was written by famous filmmaker, Luc Besson. He shared in the interview,

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

“I do remember reading that first Taken script. My wife was shooting a film with Ralph Fiennes in Shanghai and they were going to the Shanghai Film Festival to show the film and I went with Natasha, obviously. I knew Luc Besson was behind this Taken script, he was a co-writer and he was the head of the jury. I was hoping to meet him and I did. I said, ‘Look, Luc, I’m sure I’m not on even your long list of people, but would you consider me?’”

As we all know, the actor was given the role which became one of the most iconic action roles in Hollywood.

Liam Neeson did not have faith in the story of Taken

Liam Neeson shared that he was not very confident about the story. However, he wanted to do an action movie, hence he said yes to the franchise. Non-Stop actor said,
“I remember thinking, ‘It’s going to go straight to video, it doesn’t matter, it’s just such a simple little story.” But it’s three months in Paris. How bad can that be? Working with these stunt guys every evening, I was in heaven. It was just a joy.’”

The actor added that he was happy that the movie was successful beyond his imagination. He said,
“I think it opened at number two or number three and it sort of hovered there and went up and down a bit and then up a bit. It was great. This straight-to-video little movie! It’s nice to be proven wrong.”

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

After Taken’s excellent box office results, the actor worked in numerous other action movies including Unknown, A Walk Among The Tombstones, Run All Night, The Commuter, Cold Pursuit, Honest Thief, Memory, and others.