release, Morel explained that they tapered the style of action to make sense for the character being portrayed. Morel and Neeson were deliberate about the brand of action they were crafting with this film. Really thought it would go straight to video.

I really thought it would be kind of a little side road from my so-called career. Speaking with GQ in 2014, Neesons explained that he thought the movie was destined for the bargain bin and its success truly caught him off guard. This, despite the fact that he didn't actually have a ton of faith in the movie. You don't have Batman or lightsabers there to bail you out if it doesn't all totally work.īut Neeson had an itch he wanted to scratch and threw himself into the role, dedicating months to prep time and training. It was a more physically demanding role and it was a pure action flick, through and through. Ultimately, he had to drop out and it fell to Liam Neeson - who, up to that point, had been known primarily as a dramatic actor, having appeared in Oscar-winners such as 'Schindler's List.' Yes, he had flexed his action muscles in movies like 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace' and 'Batman Begins,' but this was different. One interesting tidbit is that it was originally none other than The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, who was supposed to play the lead role of Bryan Mills. we're going to look back at how 'Taken' came to be, what made it such a success, and what lessons the current Hollywood landscape could stand to gain from it. In honor of Neeson's latest action effort 'Blacklight' hitting theaters this weekend. Though North America didn't get to witness Neeson's out-of-nowhere turn as an action star until January 2009, 'Taken' was originally released in France in 2008, setting up a wildly unlikely franchise and a hugely unlikely late-stage career change for Mr. It was a year that was dominated by both sequels and franchise-starters, including 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,' 'Sex and the City,' 'Madagascar 2,' 'Twilight,' and 'Kung Fu Panda.' Yet, a movie that may get left out of the conversation a bit when looking at the biggest movies of 2008 is Liam Neeson's action/thriller 'Taken.' It was the year that both 'Iron Man' and 'The Dark Knight' came out, essentially cementing the superhero movie trend as something far more than a fad that was going to burn out in a few years. Looking back at it, 2008 truly was a watershed year for the movie industry.

( Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

Taken 1 full movie liam neeson 2008