Liam Neeson approached to revive 'The Naked Gun' franchise
The action hero in Liam Neeson might be retiring soon, as age has reportedly caught on him. In a recent interview, the Oscar-nominated veteran actor said he will resign from actioners this year, because he feels "breathless" after shooting an action sequence even though he loves "beating up guys half my age." However, it seems The Naked Gun has him thinking again.
In an interview with People, Neeson wondered about what playing Detective Frank Drebin in the upcoming series would do to his career. "I've been approached by Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy and The Orville) and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the Naked Gun films. It'll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don't know," Neeson told the interviewer.
An action-comedy franchise, The Naked Gun starred Leslie Nielsen as Detective Drebin, whose adventures make you roll on the floor laughing, thanks to his deadpan performance. Before Neeson, Paramount had talks with Ed Helms to spearhead the reboot, but the project didn't see the light of the day. Incidentally, Neeson has been approached at a time when he thinks action sequences are too hectic.
While promoting his recently released The Marksman, Neeson told ET that his decision to retire from action movies was taken while filming his next, Blacklight. The star realized that he ran out of breath after combat sequences. "I'm 68 and a half. 69 this year. There's a couple more I'm going to do this year...then I think that will probably be it," he said.
Notably, Neeson has tasted unprecedented success as an action movie crowd-puller following Taken films. Detailing his decision to retire from this genre, he said he has "no desire to go to gym for 3 hours every day to pump myself up to squeeze into a Velcro suit with a cape." History knows how actors retire in and out, so let's keep our hopes high.
For now, his fans are enjoying him in his latest film, The Marksman, which has toppled Wonder Woman 1984 at the box office. In the action film, he plays a rancher and former Marine, who fights cruel drug cartel assassins to defend an 11-year-old.
