While Liam Neeson is stepped back into comedy with the The Naked Gun reboot, it’s hard to forget that he redefined his career by going full action-hero mode in Taken.
The gritty thriller not only made him a box office powerhouse but also gave us one of the most unforgettable movie speeches of all time. But despite the global love for the franchise, Neeson has revealed something surprising, he’s a little embarrassed by it.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Schindler’s List star confessed, “I was a tiny bit embarrassed by Taken.” He went on to admit, “Don’t get me wrong, I did love the script. But I can’t tell you how many voicemails [of the Taken speech] I’ve recorded for my sons’ friends.”
Now that’s a legendary dad move.
Even if Neeson has mixed feelings about the film, his kids’ friends are clearly still obsessed with Taken,and who could blame them? That now-iconic moment where Bryan Mills calmly warns his daughter’s kidnappers with “I will find you…” has cemented itself in pop culture history. For an entire generation, that speech is the defining action movie mic drop.
What’s wild is that Neeson originally didn’t think much of the project at all. He once thought Taken was “corny” and believed it would end up as a straight-to-video release. Instead, it kickstarted a new chapter of his career as an unstoppable action star and led to two sequels, countless imitators, and of course, those custom voicemails.
The love for Neeson’s steely delivery hasn’t stopped with family friends either. There have been talk show segments on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Graham Norton Show where fans begged him to recreate the phone speech live.
One dad even used the threatening monologue to get his kids to clean their rooms, and in a particularly hilarious moment, Neeson once prank-called his Taken co-star’s ex-boyfriend in full Bryan Mills mode.
Sure, Neeson might cringe a bit at the franchise that made him an unlikely action icon, but you can tell he’s also in on the fun.
